Jay Triano: Learning from Steve Nash, Practicing in a Parking Lot & Fun is Fundamental
Episode notes
Jay Triano has spent almost all of his 67 years in sport. He's a former captain of Canada's Men's Basketball Team, the first Canadian head coach in NBA history with the Toronto Raptors, and a current assistant with the Dallas Mavericks. He's also the son of a high school basketball coach and the father of three kids who all played youth sports, which means he's seen every side of the equation.
In this conversation, Jay draws direct lines between how he was raised in sport in Niagara Falls and the NBA coach he became. He talks about playing basketball, volleyball, baseball and track until he was nearly 18, why Steve Nash never acted like the best player in the room despite being exactly that, and what a parking lot practice with no hoops taught him about fundamentals that individual skill sessions never could.
Jay is direct about what he sees wrong in youth sports today: parent-driven environments that prioritize exposure over development, social media that skips all the steps, and a growing culture of selfish play filtering down from the professional game. And he's equally clear about the fix: fun, teamwork, open communication, and coaches who understand that they're coaching twelve kids, not just yours.
🎙️ Better Sports Parents: helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week.
Chapters
00:00 Opening
01:35 Introducing Jay Triano
03:18 A Life in Sport: 67 Years and Still Going
04:16 How Jay's Dad Shaped His Love of the Game
05:37 Multi-Sport Until 17: Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball & Track
06:44 Unstructured Play: Street Hockey and Stats in the Front Yard
07:20 How Multi-Sport Cross-Training Made Jay a Better Athlete
08:21 Raising His Own Kids: Let Them Love What They Love
10:00 What Youth Sport Looked Like When His Kids Were Young
11:32 What Jay Looked for in a Youth Coach
12:31 Youth Sport Today: Parent-Driven and Overspecialized
13:55 NIL, Agents at Young Ages & Money Changing the Game
14:17 Higher Skills, Lower IQ
15:47 Too Many Games, Not Enough Practice
18:25 Multi-Sport and Learning to Fill a Role
19:08 Steve Nash: The Best Player Who Never Acted Like It
22:14 The European Model: Growing Together
24:15 Canadian Basketball's Rise and the Affordability Problem
26:14 If You're Good Enough, You Will Be Found
28:04 What Jay Wanted His Kids to Get Out of Sport
29:51 Learning From Bad Coaches Too
29:58 The Coaches Who Shaped Jay
33:32 The Biggest Mistake Jay Made as a Young Coach
36:11 Number One Advice for New Coaches: Make It Fun
38:19 How to Recognize and Reward Every Role on a Team
40:16 Phil Jackson's Rule: Acknowledge the Screen, Not Just the Bucket
44:54 What Jay's Dad Said After the Games
47:15 The Volunteer Coach and Referee Crisis
48:07 No Secrets: Jay's Rule on Parent Communication
52:10 He Wasn't Going to Cut a Kid in Grade Seven
53:51 What a Good Youth Environment Actually Looks Like
58:23 Developing Canadian Coaches: A Missed Opportunity
01:00:14 A Simple Thank You Can Keep a Coach Coming Back
01:02:16 The Parking Lot Practice That Built His Fundamentals
01:04:06 Social Media Is Skipping All the Steps
01:06:01 Are We Over-Parenting? Kids Need Difficult Situations
01:07:38 Learning to Be Coached Hard
01:09:06 Jay's Biggest Issue in Youth Sports Today
Resources