Greg Stewart: Do All the Sports, Encourage Failure & The Power of Self-Acceptance

Greg Stewart spent the first 25 years of his life trying to prove to people that he wasn't disabled despite being born without half of his left arm. Once he changed his mindset, he found the sport of shot put and won two Paralympic gold medals.Greg is a three-time world champion in para standing volleyball, a U Sports Defensive player of the Year in able bodied basketball, and he stands seven foot two. But the most interesting thing about him isn't his resume. It's the path he had to walk to get there. A path that ran through able-bodied sport, university, rock bottom, two lost jobs, and an eventual breakthrough: accepting himself exactly as he was.In this conversation, Greg talks about what sport means when you spend years doing it for the wrong reasons, why failure is one of the most important things we can teach young athletes, and what the word inclusion actually means when you strip away the box-ticking. He shares the three values he brings to young athletes — trust, ownership and integrity — and makes a compelling case that the real problem in youth sports right now isn't the coaches or the kids. It's the parents... who he also believes are the solution.Greg is 40 years old, newly married, a brand new father of a three-month-old daughter, and studying for his master's in counseling. He has more to say about sport, identity and mental health than almost anyone we've had on this show. 🎙️ Better Sports Parents: helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters00:00 Opening01:36 Introducing Greg Stewart03:46 How Greg Got Into Sport05:03 "You Can't Coach Height" — Using What You've Got05:38 Starting in Grassroots: Soccer, Lacrosse and Everything Else07:15 What His Parents Got Right: Encouragement Without Force08:41 Did Sport Feel Like a Place He Belonged?11:43 25 Years Trying to Prove He Wasn't Disabled13:09 Leaning Into Able-Bodied Sport: What He Was Really Chasing15:02 Having Success Without Having Joy16:51 Chasing External Validation for 25 Years17:16 Rock Bottom: Almost Failing Out, Fired From Two Jobs19:36 How He Found Joy in Sport Again20:26 Failure Is Important22:26 How He Discovered Shot Put25:24 Physical Health and Mental Health Are the Same Thing28:12 Finding Flow State in Sport30:07 What Greg Tells Young Athletes: Trust, Ownership and Integrity33:15 Are Parents Owning the Right Things?35:19 Your Discomfort Is Leading the Way: A Message for Parents 38:17 Mental Health Support in Sport: What's Changed and What Hasn't39:23 Why We Need to Let Kids Fail 41:20 Do All the Sports43:18 Youth Sport Has Become Too Commercialized44:13 The Coaches Who Shaped Greg46:04 Ownership and Trust: Who Really Runs the Team?48:38 What Inclusion Actually Means52:03 Where Does Healthy Competition Belong in Youth Sport?55:56 The Objective vs. The Purpose: A Crucial Distinction57:42 Greg's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport Today: Parent Involvement01:00:04 How to Bring Parents Along: Lead by Vulnerability01:02:32 The Listeners We Really Need to Reach01:03:30 The MindfuleteResourcesGreg StewartThe MindfuleteJumpstart