The Victory Degree

Nik Atanackovic
  • 4.6 (10)
  • Sports
  • Updated Daily

On a mission to interview & learn from the world's greatest athletes.

  1. 5d ago

    10 Powerful Lessons From The Inner Game of Tennis To Unlock Your Potential - Ryan Sweeney

    Ryan Sweeney is a former college tennis player, filmmaker, and founder of The Inner Game, a modern performance platform inspired by the work of The Inner Game of Tennis author Timothy Gallwey. Through his work, Ryan has spent time learning from elite athletes, coaches, psychologists, and high performers, including figures such as Pete Carroll and Michael Phelps’ longtime coach Bob Bowman, while exploring what allows people to perform at their best under pressure.  In this episode, Ryan and I dive deep into the psychology behind elite performance and the battle that takes place inside our own minds. We discuss self-talk, confidence, pressure, visualization, discipline, coaching, creativity, and why trying to eliminate negative thoughts may be the wrong approach entirely. Along the way, we examine lessons and stories involving Kobe Bryant, Michael Phelps, Steph Curry, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Steve Kerr and other world-class performers to understand how their mental approach can apply far beyond sports.  This conversation is ultimately about learning to trust yourself when the pressure rises, understanding the thoughts that interfere with performance, and developing a healthier relationship with discomfort, failure and uncertainty. Whether you're an athlete, entrepreneur, creator, student or simply trying to perform better in your own life, Ryan offers a fascinating perspective on what it means to master your inner game. Connect with Ryan:  Instagram: instagram.com/ryanpsweeney/ Inner Game Instagram: instagram.com/theinnergame/ Buy The Inner Game of Tennis: bit.ly/4gtM11L Connect with Nik:  Instagram: instagram.com/victorywithnik/  Twitter: x.com/victorywithnik  Other Episodes You May Enjoy: Josh Dobbs Spotify: spoti.fi/4cmtQXu Apple Podcasts: apple.co/4e9hmVB George Mumford Spotify: spoti.fi/4bIywaR Apple Podcasts: apple.co/45ltHBR Dr. Jim Loehr Spotify: spoti.fi/3yyddu8 Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3AcnX21

  2. Aug 10

    12 Harsh Truths To Stop Wasting Your Potential From Saudi Arabia's First Pro Boxer - Zizo Almaayouf

    Ziyad "Zizo" Almaayouf is Saudi Arabia's first professional boxer. He has fought at Madison Square Garden and on undercards in front of millions worldwide, all while building a path that did not exist before him. In this conversation, Zizo breaks down why self-belief has to be delusional before it can be earned, the difference between confidence in your skills and confidence in your abilities, and what Canelo told him after the first loss of his career. He explains why he forgets his wins as quickly as his losses, what he calls the gray area and why he has learned to love it, and the advice that added five years to his career. We also get into the Thriller in Manila, why comparison kills more dreams than failure does, and what he wants people to say about him when it's all said and done. Connect with Zizo:  Instagram: instagram.com/therealzizo/ Connect with Nik:  Instagram: instagram.com/victorywithnik/  Twitter: x.com/victorywithnik  Other Episodes You May Enjoy: Josh Dobbs Spotify: spoti.fi/4cmtQXu Apple Podcasts: apple.co/4e9hmVB George Mumford Spotify: spoti.fi/4bIywaR Apple Podcasts: apple.co/45ltHBR Dr. Jim Loehr Spotify: spoti.fi/3yyddu8 Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3AcnX21

  3. Aug 3

    15 Harsh Truths On Fear, Doubt, and Discipline From The NFL’s Greatest WR - Jerry Rice

    Jerry Rice is widely considered the greatest wide receiver in NFL history, and by some measures the greatest football player, period. But the mindset behind the records is less understood than the highlights. This episode covers everything I learned from reading his 2007 book Go Long, along with quotes and stories pulled from his interviews over the years. We get into his childhood in rural Mississippi, the relationship with his father that shaped everything, the rough start to his NFL career, his approach to practice, and what he says he'd change if he could do it again. Connect with Nik:  Instagram: instagram.com/victorywithnik/  Twitter: x.com/victorywithnik  Sources:  Buy Go Long By Jerry Rice: amzn.to/4yQrmNG Interview With Graham Bensinger: bit.ly/4g9EJ48 Interview With Joe Buck: bit.ly/4cin1sS Other Episodes You May Enjoy: Steph Curry: Spotify: bit.ly/4wwEfuk Kobe Bryant Spotify: bit.ly/4bhUkfc

  4. Jul 26

    12 Brutal Lessons On Success From Basketball's Greatest Coach - John Wooden

    John Wooden won ten national championships, seven of them in a row, and eighty-eight consecutive games. He also never talked about winning. In this episode I go through "Wooden on Leadership" and pull out the lessons that made him the greatest coach in the history of the sport. What success actually meant to him, why he refused to let his teams look at the scoreboard, the obsessive attention to detail that shaped every practice, and the standard he held himself to long after the titles stopped mattering. Wooden never called himself a coach. He called himself a teacher. By the end of this you'll understand why that distinction was the whole thing. Connect with Nik:  Instagram: instagram.com/victorywithnik/  Twitter: x.com/victorywithnik  Sources:  Buy Wooden on Leadership: amzn.to/4pHfut5 Other Episodes You May Enjoy: Steph Curry: Spotify: bit.ly/4wwEfuk Kobe Bryant Spotify: bit.ly/4bhUkfc

  5. Jul 21

    Maxx Crosby & Brock Bowers’ Hidden Habits & How Constraints Built The Greatest Athletes | Eagles Coach Beyah Rasool

    Coach Beyah Rasool has coached football at nearly every level of the game where he spent last season inside the Raiders building around Max Crosby and Brock Bowers before joining the Philadelphia Eagles. This conversation is about what he saw up close. What actually separates the players at the top — and why it's not what most people assume. What he noticed watching Max Crosby's practice film that he still can't get over. Why he believes a weakness is something else entirely, misread. And a theory about winning that I haven't heard from anyone else in a hundred-plus episodes of asking. We also get into evaluating talent, the mindset lesson Pete Carroll taught him, constraints, courage, and the question he's still wrestling with in his own career.  Connect with Coach Rasool:  Instagram: instagram.com/coachbeyrasool/  X: x.com/CoachBeyRasool  Connect with Nik:  Instagram: instagram.com/victorywithnik/  Twitter: x.com/victorywithnik  Seth Wickersham ESPN Article: bit.ly/4vQUYbe Other Episodes You May Enjoy: Josh Dobbs Spotify: spoti.fi/4cmtQXu Apple Podcasts: apple.co/4e9hmVB George Mumford Spotify: spoti.fi/4bIywaR Apple Podcasts: apple.co/45ltHBR Dr. Jim Loehr Spotify: spoti.fi/3yyddu8 Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3AcnX21

  6. Jul 20

    How The Greatest Olympian of All Time Wins - Michael Phelps

    Michael Phelps won more Olympic gold medals than most countries. This episode is about how. I spent over a week inside the mind of the most decorated Olympian ever — his book No Limits, New York Times profiles dating back to 2002, and every interview I could find. What I found wasn't a story about talent. It was something stranger: a training philosophy most athletes would refuse, a coach who pushed him to his limits, and a confession from Phelps about what he saw when he looked in the mirror that I haven't stopped thinking about since. This is a chapter-by-chapter deep dive into how Phelps thought about preparation, losing, doubters, and the price of being first — told in his own words, from primary sources. Connect with Nik:  Instagram: instagram.com/victorywithnik/  Twitter: x.com/victorywithnik  Sources:  Buy No Limits: The Will To Succeed By Michael Phelps: amzn.to/4vCgFLW New York Times Articles:  nyti.ms/4wdTRDq nyti.ms/4wmYn2n Interview With Will Ahmed: bit.ly/3TaBjoS Interview With Tony Robbins: bit.ly/4fJp6jJ Interview With Bhrett McCabe: bit.ly/4yvyGhE Other Episodes You May Enjoy: Steph Curry: Spotify: bit.ly/4wwEfuk Kobe Bryant Spotify: bit.ly/4bhUkfc

  7. Jul 13

    Seth Greenberg On: Lessons From 30+ Years of Coaching, Coach K & The Camp That Built Michael Jordan

    Prior to taking the position at ESPN Seth Greenberg was a coach for 34 years, the last 22 as a head coach. Greenberg has been the head coach at Long Beach State, the University of South Florida, and Virginia Tech. He was a two-time ACC Coach of the Year. This conversation is about what all those years actually taught him. Inside: the mindset he calls "being an everyday guy" and why he believes winning and losing are byproducts of something else entirely, the story of the night he got thrown out at Duke — and what happened three weeks later, the legendary summer camp where he learned in the shadow of Bob Knight and Chuck Daly while future Hall of Famers ran the courts, the mentor who saved his career in 1983, and his rule for handling critics who've never walked in your shoes.  Plus: what he learned about resilience, why he says the grind is a privilege, and the advice he gives every young player trying to make it.  Connect with Seth:  Instagram: instagram.com/sethonhoops/   X: x.com/SethOnHoops  Connect with Nik:  Instagram: instagram.com/victorywithnik/  Twitter: x.com/victorywithnik Other Episodes You May Enjoy: Josh Dobbs Spotify: spoti.fi/4cmtQXu Apple Podcasts: apple.co/4e9hmVB George Mumford Spotify: spoti.fi/4bIywaR Apple Podcasts: apple.co/45ltHBR Dr. Jim Loehr Spotify: spoti.fi/3yyddu8 Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3AcnX21

  8. Jul 10

    Larry Bird: Inside the Mind of Basketball's Greatest Underdog

    Magic Johnson said there was only one player he ever truly feared. This episode goes inside the mind of Larry Bird — not a career recap, but a deep dive into how he actually thought. How he practiced, why he took losses personally, what he did the summer after getting swept, and why the man who "couldn't run or jump" became one of the greatest to ever play. The episode is built around eight principles pulled from Bird's own words — his autobiography Drive: The Story of My Life, newspaper archives from the '80s and early '90s, and a rare interview from his final NBA season. Including the story of the night he decided to play an entire game with the wrong hand — and announced it beforehand. All sources linked below. Connect with Nik:  Instagram: instagram.com/victorywithnik/  Twitter: x.com/victorywithnik  Sources:  Buy "Drive: The Story of My Life" by Larry Bird: bit.ly/4pecGDD  NBA Interview With Larry Bird During His Final Season: bit.ly/4vm2NFe Other Episodes You May Enjoy: Steph Curry: Spotify: bit.ly/4wwEfuk Kobe Bryant Spotify: bit.ly/4bhUkfc

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4.6
out of 5
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About

On a mission to interview & learn from the world's greatest athletes.

Information

  • Creator
    Nik Atanackovic
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    118
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    The Victory Degree