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How can athletes turn setbacks into opportunities for growth?

Former professional snowboarder and entrepreneur Barry Hartman joins Mariel to share how the lessons learned through sports can shape success beyond competition. After a broken ankle sidelined his snowboarding career, Barry shifted his focus to building a business. He reflects on the importance of self-belief, learning from failure, staying open to change, and finding purpose beyond athletic achievements. In this episode, you’ll learn about:

• How Barry went from professional snowboarding to entrepreneurship
• Why failure is feedback, not the end of the road
• How focusing on enjoyment can change your performance
• The value of reviewing mistakes and making adjustments
• Why athletes need an identity beyond their sport
• How attitude and body language affect team performance
• What sports teach us about leadership and personal growth

For youth athletes, parents, coaches, and former athletes, this conversation offers valuable insights into overcoming setbacks, embracing change, and developing the resilience, confidence, and leadership skills that extend beyond sports.

Barry's journey is a reminder that an athlete's growth doesn't end when their playing career does. The lessons learned through competition, failure, and perseverance can open doors to new opportunities and help shape who they become beyond the game.

About Barry

Barry Hartman is a Canadian entrepreneur, former professional snowboarder, and founder of multiple companies in the junk removal industry.

Before building businesses, Barry spent part of his early career as a professional snowboarder, an experience that shaped the way he thinks about discipline, confidence, risk, coaching, and personal growth. Competing at a high level taught him that success is never just about talent. It comes from repetition, resilience, great mentorship, and the ability to keep showing up after setbacks. Those lessons became the foundation for how he leads teams, builds companies, and mentors other entrepreneurs today.

Barry is the Co-Founder and CEO of 505-Junk, a multi-million-dollar junk removal, recycling, and donation pickup company based in Vancouver, Canada. Since launching the company in 2011, he has helped grow 505-Junk into one of the most recognized independent junk removal brands in Western Canada. The company is known for its pay-by-weight pricing model, strong culture, professional approach, and commitment to recycling, donation partnerships, and responsible disposal.

He is also the Founder of Bolt Accelerator, a coaching and training company that helps junk removal entrepreneurs across North America grow stronger, more profitable businesses. Through Bolt, Barry coaches business owners on leadership, sales, marketing, operations, hiring, pricing, and long-term growth.

Barry’s journey from professional sports to entrepreneurship gives him a unique perspective on youth development, performance, and leadership. He understands the role sports can play in building confidence, identity, work ethic, and emotional resilience. He also believes that the lessons learned through athletics can carry far beyond competition, helping young people become better leaders, teammates, entrepreneurs, parents, and members of their communities.

Today, Barry is passionate about helping people see what is possible when they combine ambition with discipline, values, and strong support systems. Whether he is leading his team, coaching entrepreneurs, creating content, or speaking to young athletes and business owners, Barry brings a direct, energetic, and optimistic style rooted in real-world experience.

At the heart of Barry’s story is a belief that sports, business, and life are all connected by the same principles: show up, do the work, learn from failure, surround yourself with great people, and keep growing.

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Why can you absolutely crush it in practice, but the moment the game starts, everything changes? Suddenly you're second-guessing decisions, worrying about mistakes, and thinking about things that normally come naturally.

In this Forged Youth Q&A episode, Mental Performance Coach Mariel Anderson and former professional hockey player Jordan Owens tackle one of the most common struggles athletes face: game-day anxiety and overthinking under pressure.

Jordan shares what it was like playing in the American Hockey League, where one mistake could mean spending the rest of the game on the bench. He explains how simplifying his game helped him rebuild confidence, one shift at a time, and why even becoming a top player didn't make the pressure disappear.

Mariel brings the mental performance coaching perspective, explaining why trying to focus on everything you've practiced can actually work against you during competition. Instead, she shares a simple strategy to help youth athletes stop overthinking, lean into their strengths, and create the conditions for flow.

You'll discover:

• Why athletes can perform confidently in practice but struggle with anxiety and overthinking during games
• How Jordan handled the pressure of making mistakes when his playing time was on the line
• Why simplifying your game and making small, successful plays can build confidence
• How focusing on your strongest skill can reduce mental overload during competition
• The difference between deliberate practice and a competition mindset
• How visualization can help you reconnect with the freedom, looseness, and joy you felt playing sports as a kid

Jordan also shares a powerful strategy he used later in his professional career: mentally returning to the feeling of playing hockey as a 12-year-old, before expectations and pressure took over. By bringing that feeling back into his body, he could release tension and return to simply playing.

Whether you're a young athlete who freezes under pressure, a parent watching your child struggle with game-day nerves, or a coach trying to build confident competitors, this conversation offers practical ways to shift from overthinking to trusting your abilities.

Because sometimes the best way to elevate your game isn't to do more. It's to get back to what you already do well.

About Your Hosts

Mariel Anderson is the founder of Forged Youth and a Mental Performance Coach who works with professional athletes and developing youth athletes. A former elite volleyball athlete, Mariel combines her competitive experience with practical mental performance strategies to help athletes build confidence, resilience, and the skills to navigate pressure in sport and life.

Jordan Owens is a former professional hockey player with a 12-year career that included time in the New York Rangers organization and professional hockey in Europe. As Head of Mentorship & Mindset at Forged Youth, Jordan brings firsthand experience navigating the expectations, challenges, and mental demands of high-performance sport.

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Most athletes think one setback ends the story. In this episode of Forged Youth, Canadian Bobsleigh Athlete Luke Puto proves the opposite and shares how a broken hockey path, a Google search, and three tries to make Team Canada led him into one of the most intense sports on earth. Mariel digs into what it really takes to start over in your 20s, stay curious after disappointment, and build a career by choosing joy over ego. Luke opens up about getting cut twice before making the national bobsleigh team, why he kept going when the outcome was uncertain, and how the best athletes in the world balance looseness, intensity, and trust. You’ll discover:

• Why Luke chose bobsleigh after hockey ended on terms he didn’t control
• How “exposure therapy” helped him train for competition without tying his identity to winning
• The high-performance habits he learned from medalists and multi-Olympians in Calgary
• Why fun, not constant seriousness, became the key to longevity and better results
• How elite teams communicate, compromise, and stay synced in a sport where five seconds matter
• The simple reflection tools Luke uses to capture ideas, lessons, and performance notes without turning journaling into a chore

Mariel also connects Luke’s story to the bigger athlete journey: injury, identity shifts, burnout, and the fear of leaving a sport that no longer fits. Luke explains why those same experiences can become a career advantage, not a dead end, whether you’re chasing the Olympics, coaching, or building a life around sport in another way. If you’ve ever wondered whether your athletic path is “over” because one door closed, this conversation is your reminder that there are many ways to stay in the game.

About Luke

Luke Puto is a Canadian bobsleigh push athlete training toward the 2030 Winter Olympics. His approach to the sport is methodical. Luke runs a structured strength and speed program built around classical periodization principles, with a heavy emphasis on data tracking and long-term progression. He came to bobsleigh from a competitive hockey background and has spent years studying the science of explosive performance. That foundation shapes how he trains today: patient, measured, and grounded in the belief that the right work, done consistently over years, is what separates good athletes from great ones.

Off the ice, Luke is an Accountant at Deloitte, where he works in professional services. Balancing a demanding corporate career with elite athletic ambitions has shaped much of how he thinks about time, energy, and priorities. He has become something of a student of high performance in both domains, and is interested in what the worlds of sport and business can learn from each other. Luke is also the author of The Examined Start, a Substack publication where he writes about athletics, professional life, philosophy, and what it means to live a serious and considered life. His essays draw on classical sources, modern performance science, and his own experience navigating two demanding worlds at once. Beyond sport, work, and writing, Luke is an active hunter, a chess player, and a home cook with a long-standing interest in history and classical thought.

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How can athletes improve performance under pressure?

Former professional hockey player and performance mindset coach Jacob Newton joins Mariel to break down how mindset training, breathwork, visualization, and positive self-talk can help athletes build confidence and recover after mistakes. After a 10-year professional hockey career, including an NHL contract and seven seasons playing in Europe, Jacob began focusing on the mental game that had been holding him back. He reflects on how working on his mindset helped him feel calmer, more present, and more consistent on the ice. These lessons extend beyond hockey and apply to athletes in every sport. In this episode, you’ll learn about:

• Jacob’s simple 2-by-2-by-2 routine for breathing, visualization, and positive self-talk
• How breathwork can help calm the nervous system before competition
• Why a calm, focused mindset may be more helpful than getting overly hyped
• How to respond to mistakes without spiraling into negative self-talk
• Ways to use realistic visualization to prepare for success and setbacks
• How past experiences with coaches, teammates, and parents can influence athletic confidence
• Why coaches and parents have a powerful role in supporting youth athletes

For youth athletes, hockey players, parents, and coaches, this conversation offers practical mental performance tools for building focus, resilience, and confidence in sports.

About Jacob

Jacob Newton is a former 10-year hockey pro, father of two, owner of NewtonsMind LLC and mental health advocate. Through his healing from childhood trauma and learned experiences in the game of hockey, he has become well versed in the mind-body connection and provide athletes with applicable and easy to apply tools, to help them in cultivating a healthier relationship with themselves.

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Ryan Hofer on mental toughness, trust, and building stronger athletes

Mariel Anderson sits down with Ryan Hofer, coach of the TWU volleyball program and a deeply relationship-driven leader, to talk about what really shapes athletes beyond skill. They dig into mental performance, handling hard things, confidence versus courage, and how trust, vulnerability, and identity affect both recruiting and performance. In this episode, Ryan shares:

• How hardship has become one of his biggest teachers as a coach and parent, and why avoiding discomfort limits growth
• Why “bringing hard things into the light” matters more than pretending thoughts and feelings are not there
• Practical tools for athletes, including pausing, breathing, naming thoughts, journaling, and reframing
• Why identity and self-talk shape performance more than confidence alone
• How he uses trust, integrity, and competency to evaluate mentors, teammates, and recruits
• Why he believes every athlete on a team should have a voice, not just designated captains
• The idea of “performance languages” and how different athletes need different kinds of sideline support
• How families can navigate pressure and cost of sport more wisely

About Ryan

Ryan Hofer has been Trinity Western’s women’s team’s head coach since 2006. Since taking over as head coach, Hofer has guided TWU to seven national medals, including gold in 2015 and 2022, silver in 2016 and 2023 and bronze in 2011, 2013 and 2017. He has also coached the Spartans to six Canada West titles in the last eight seasons, including each of the last four conference crowns. Hofer has also spent many years coaching at the grass roots club level winning five National Club medals with both male and female players

Individually, Hofer was recognized as the Canada West coach of the year in 2010-11 and 2021-2022 and U SPORTS women’s volleyball Coach of the Year in 2010-11. Hofer also has experience coaching internationally, with Team Canada, as he has been the head coach or the assistant coach at a number of major international women’s events.

Hofer was an assistant coach with Canada's senior women's team, helping lead the Canadian entry at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. Prior to that, he was also the associate head coach with Canada’s women’s team at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Korea.

In 2012, Hofer coached his Spartans team, who was representing Team Canada, at the U23 Pan American Cup. Before that, Hofer was an assistant coach for Team Canada at the 2009 FISU Games in Belgrade, Serbia. In 2005, he was also an assistant coach with Canada’s Junior National Team and, in 2006, was the head coach of Canada’s Youth National Team.

Before being named head coach of the TWU women’s team, Hofer was an assistant coach with the Spartans for five years and, in 2006, helped TWU win a bronze medal at the Canada West Final Four tournament. That year, TWU also made it first appearance at the women’s volleyball national championship. Prior to that, Hofer was the interim head coach for the 2003-04 season, while his wife Carol took maternity leave. While as an assistant coach with the Spartans, Hofer was also heavily involved in coaching club volleyball and, following the 2004 season, he was named Volleyball Canada’s Male Coach of the Year.

Hofer graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministry from Briercrest Bible College. He is a certified NCCP Level IV (indoor) and Level II (beach) coach. He is currently completing his Master in Coaching and Leadership at the University of Missouri.

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The biggest performance killer is the worry spiral that steals your focus before the game even starts. Mariel Anderson and Jordan Owens break down why your brain is built to predict danger, how to stop future fear from controlling you and the simple habits that help you walk into competition calm, prepared, and confident. This Q&A episode pulls anonymous questions from a senior boys basketball team chasing a provincial championship, and the answers get real fast.

• Why worry is a normal human pattern, not a personal weakness
• How to use a quick self-audit to separate controllables from distractions
• The mindset shift that turns obstacles into armor instead of evidence that you can't handle pressure
• How preparation builds confidence in both school and sport
• Why routines, hydration, sleep, and visualization work together to prime your body and mind

Jordan also shares what game prep looked like in pro hockey, from cooling down after practice to mentally rehearsing every situation he might face as a winger. Mariel connects that to her own volleyball experience and the four phases of performance, showing how athletes can build a personal routine that actually fits their sport, schedule, and personality. If you have ever felt the spike of panic before a test, game, tryout, or big conversation, this episode gives you a practical way to steady yourself and move forward. Perfect for athletes, students, coaches, and anyone who wants to perform better without getting swallowed by anxiety. Mariel Anderson trains athletes in mindset, grit, and performance, working closely with a senior boys basketball team aiming for a provincial title. Jordan Owens is a former professional hockey player who brings lived experience from high-level competition and a practical, no-fluff approach to preparation and mental toughness. Train your mind, build your grit, and forward your legacy.

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The advice you hear about winning is missing the part that actually matters: how to stay relentless without losing your joy. Speed climber Ben Jennings breaks down the mindset, routines, and identity shifts that help him compete at the top level while staying grounded, curious, and human.Ben is currently ranked fifth in the U.S., representing Team USA on the international stage, but this conversation goes far beyond medals and rankings. He opens up about what it really means to race your best friends, why speed climbing has such a rare culture of respect, and how a sport that looks individual is actually built on community, trust, and shared growth. You’ll discover:

• Why Ben says climbing is 95% of what he does, but not 95% of who he is
• The visualization routine he uses every day to mentally rehearse competition and technique
• How he studies video of every lap to make micro-adjustments without overthinking
• Why he keeps one earbud in at warmups instead of shutting the world out
• The boundaries he protects around sleep, training, school, and social life
• How he reframes nerves, failure, and self-talk so setbacks become data, not identity

Mariel also brings the athlete-to-coach perspective, connecting Ben’s approach to performance mindset, emotional regulation, and the power of language like “I am” versus “I feel.” Their conversation digs into the realities of elite sport: loneliness, pressure, discipline, and the invisible choices that shape success long before competition day arrives. If you’ve ever struggled with confidence, comparison, or the pressure to be perfect, Ben’s perspective will help you reset your focus and get back to what actually moves you forward.

About Ben

Ben Jennings is a professional speed climber for Team USA. Climbing since he was 12 years old, Ben is a 3 time national champion, once on the youth, collegiate, and professional stage. He is also a full time student at the University of Utah, studying psychology and planning to pursue a masters in secondary English education so that he can become a teacher. He has a background in coaching, and has worked with athletes that have become successful in both the youth and professional stages. He loves working with kids not only to develop them as athletes, but more importantly to help make them the best people they can be.

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