Why Be Valiant? The Founding Story of Valiant Sports Society
The Journey
In the first episode of Be Valiant, Todd Merkow steps up to the microphone alone. No guest. No interview. Just the story behind the podcast and the nonprofit that powers it.
Youth sports have been a constant throughout Todd's life — and he thought that experience would prepare him for the parenting journey that came with it.
I realized that youth sports has been a constant thread in my life — as a kid playing multiple sports, as a college baseball player, and now as a girl dad raising two incredible young women. I thought I was ready for the parenting journey that came with it. Boy was I wrong.
He discovered there was a great deal he still needed to learn.
The Realization
The view from the stands is different from the view on the field.
As a sports parent, Todd experienced the decisions, expectations, pressures, and emotions that can shape an athlete's experience. He began to recognize how easily parents can become consumed by playing time, team selection, recruiting, scholarships, and the next milestone.
He also began asking a more important question: What are our children actually getting from the experience?
The episode explores the growing commercialization of youth sports, the pressure families face, the small percentage of athletes who continue competing at the highest levels, and the emotional and physical costs that can accompany the pursuit of athletic success.
But it also explores what sports can give young people: confidence, resilience, friendships, leadership, joy, and memories that last long after the final game.
Those benefits should not be lost in the pursuit of the next achievement.
The Mission
Those experiences and realizations ultimately helped inspire Valiant Sports Society.
The organization was founded on a belief that parents deserve accessible, trustworthy education to help them make better decisions, ask better questions, and advocate for healthier youth sports experiences.
The Be Valiant podcast is part of that mission: bringing forward the stories, perspectives, and expertise that can help families better understand the opportunities and challenges facing young athletes.
The goal isn't simply to develop better athletes. It's to help raise healthier, more confident young people who can carry the positive lessons of sports into the rest of their lives.
And sometimes the most important reminder is the simplest one: remember why playing was fun in the first place.
Close your eyes, and go back to when you were a kid, playing with your friends. Remember that feeling — the joy, the freedom, the unfiltered fun. No pressure, no stress. Just pure love for what you are doing. Play like you're ten again.
More Happy Moments. Less Harmful Ones.™
Top 5 Takeaways
Youth sports is a $40 billion industry — and the pressure lands on the family.
Private equity money is flowing into youth sports because there is enormous profit to be made. The people who bear the cost — financially, emotionally, and physically — are the athletes and their families. Being intentional about where your money goes and what return you are actually getting is not cynical. It is essential.
The funnel is far smaller than most parents believe.
Seventy percent of kids quit organized sports by age 13. Only 7 percent of high school athletes play any level of college sports. Fewer than 2 percent receive athletic scholarships, and most are partial. If the scholarship is the only win you are chasing, you are playing a game that is statistically stacked against almost every child.
The real return on youth sports is not a scholarship — it is the person.
Ninety-four percent of women in C-suite executive roles played sports. Eighty percent of female Fortune 500 executives competed in youth or high school sports. The confidence, resilience, leadership, and ability to handle failure that sport builds outlasts any game, any season, and any scholarship.
Culture starts at home — and most parents never define it.
The way a family talks about sports, responds to setbacks, and defines success shapes everything that follows. Todd admits he and his wife never sat down and defined their sports culture. He believes that if they had, many of the hardest moments of their daughters' journeys would have looked different.
Fear is the hidden driver of most sports parenting decisions.
Fear of leaving the wrong team. Fear of speaking up. Fear of hurting a child's chances. Fear of judgment from other parents. Todd names it plainly: fear shaped decisions he wishes he could go back and rethink. The antidote is not fearlessness — it is being valiant enough to act anyway.
