124: COMPETITOR with Dave Youker, swimming coach at Olathe East High School

This week we're chatting with Dave Youker, the swimming & diving coach at Olathe East High School here in the Kansas City area.

Now, why are we talking with a high school swimming and diving coach on a podcast that mainly features business leaders and talks about leadership and mentoring?

Well, as you may know, since 2017 we’ve had a program in partnership with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas City and the Kansas City Royals called Coaches with Character. Each year we recognize six coaches who are making Kansas City a better place.

This year we are featuring the coaches on this podcast because who knows better about leadership, building teams, team chemistry and so on than successful high school coaches?

Dave Youker, the swimming & diving coach at Olathe East High School here in the Kansas City area, happens to be the July Coaches with Character honoree.

Coach Youker has been at Olathe East since it opened in 1992 — so for 31 years, he has built an incredibly successful program that has turned out championship swimmers who understand the importance of becoming something bigger than themselves. And there was even a stretch about 10 years ago when he was coaching two high school teams at the same time: Olathe East and St. Thomas Aquinas.

In this chat, we talk about that coaching career, leadership highs and lows, building a team, and much more.

LINKS:

Here's the article about Dave Youker as a Blue KC Coaches with Character honoree.

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

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