What are some of the key decisions facing parents of elite young athletes? What are some of the benefits of today's high-level youth sports environment?

Derrick Mayes was a great college and NFL football player. But today, much of his energy is directed toward parenting an elite young basketball athlete. He joined the SGG podcast to discuss:

1. His sports experiences as a youngster—including playing contact football starting in 2nd grade.

2. “Hindsight (into his own sports experiences) gave me 20-20 vision on how to do things with my son.”

3. The difficult decisions he’s facing as a parent of a young athlete: 1) no tackle football until at least high school; 2) load management in basketball (but, “there’s a lot of work you can put in that doesn’t put wear and tear” on the body); 3) deciding on which high school to attend (“It’s important to know who’s going to be developing him.”).

4. Public vs. Private school decisions for talented young athletes.

5. Social media: “I am adamant that sports stay merit-based. Your talent will show through.”

6. Social media: “It gives a false narrative of what’s important.”

7. A benefit of today’s high-level youth basketball: Access to innovation in training.

8. Analytics: “I’m thrilled that my son can apply some of the math stuff to something that he cares about.”