The Struggle Bubble

Chad Kutting and Craig Surgey
  • 5.0 (17)
  • PARENTING
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The Struggle Bubble is a dynamic podcast that dives deep into the real-life challenges faced by modern professionals, parents, and individuals in high-performance environments. Hosted by Chad Kutting and Craig Surgey, this show offers a raw and honest look at the juggling act of balancing career ambitions, family responsibilities, and personal well-being. Each episode features candid conversations about the pressures of living in tech-centric communities, the evolving landscape of parenting, and the constant push-pull between professional success and personal fulfillment. The hosts share their own experiences and insights, often bringing in guest experts to provide diverse perspectives on navigating life's complexities. The Struggle Bubble is more than just a podcast; it's a community where listeners can find relatable stories, practical advice, and a sense of camaraderie in facing life's everyday struggles. Whether you're a Silicon Valley techie, a busy parent, or anyone trying to find balance in a fast-paced world, this podcast offers valuable insights and a reminder that you're not alone in your journey. Join Chad and Craig as they unpack the realities of modern life, share laughs over common frustrations, and explore strategies for thriving amidst the chaos. "The Struggle Bubble" - because sometimes, the most comforting thing is knowing we're all in this together.

  1. The Long Game with Lisa Mitchell

    14H AGO

    The Long Game with Lisa Mitchell

    Our guest this week is Lisa Mitchell. Lisa is the girls varsity head soccer coach at Los Gatos High School, a PE teacher at Fisher Middle School for the last 21 years. She's also a three-time NCAA Final Four captain at Santa Clara, a pro on the 2001 CyberRays team that won the first WUSA championship 25 years ago, and mom to three, including a set of 7-year-old twins. Few people see youth soccer the way Lisa Mitchell does. She teaches PE at Fisher Middle School, then watches those same kids move into the high school program — and she's seen firsthand the pressure club coaches put on players to skip high school soccer entirely. "We see the long game here," Craig says. "A lot of the club coaches see the today and to the end of the season."

    41 min
  2. The Takeover of Youth Sports

    APR 20

    The Takeover of Youth Sports

    If you've got a kid in travel ball, club soccer, rec hockey, or cheer, you already know the math is getting weird. Chad and Craig spend this episode pulling on that thread — why youth sports has quietly become a $40 billion industry (about 2x the revenue of the NFL), and why that number doesn't feel like it's benefiting the kids the industry says it serves. We start where the money starts: the trickle-down from pro sports to NIL to your seven-year-old. The "crazy parent" economy — $500/month for private training, $3,500/month for a certain club with a certain logo. We get into the alphabet soup of competitive tiers (ECNL, GA, MLS Next, NPL, RL) and why a parent has zero chance of parsing which league actually matters for their 10-year-old. Spoiler: it doesn't matter yet, because nobody is scouting a 10-year-old. Craig brings the UK comparison — "jumpers for goalposts," rec as just playing, no coaches, no parent politics — and we hold it up against the US model where even rec has gotten expensive. Then we dig into the scholarship myth head-on: Chad is 5'7", was a really good athlete, and is very clear that your body type at 15 is doing more work than your travel-ball resume at 10. The athletic-scholarship math is not what you've been told. The core stat block lands around minute 29, straight from Aspen's Project Play data: the average family now spends over $1,000 per kid per sport, $2,000+ for high-income families, $10,000–$13,000 a season in travel hockey and softball, and $25,000 at the top end. 57% of surveyed parents say the cost is unreasonable. 20% say they're willing to go into debt for it anyway. That is a broken market. Then Craig drops the line of the episode: "You just read the pitch deck for a PE dude." Because if you're a private equity investor and you hear "captive flywheel of parents who will pay anything, with a constant fresh supply of new kids every year," you start buying facilities. We walk through the full flywheel — pay-to-play, private training, tiered leagues, travel tournaments, hotels, flights, gear, registration software, even streaming-your-own-kid — and why one owner controlling multiple rungs means parents lose leverage. We also try to hold both sides honestly. Capital can professionalize a fragmented industry. But the current scorecard is heavy on fee escalation and vertical integration. We close with what parents can actually do — push back on single-sport specialization before 13, volunteer-coach, ask harder questions of your club, and set the right end goal (fun, love of the game, being a good teammate) instead of the wrong one (the 0.1% pro track). We also pitch what we're building at Gaimplan — because if we're going to say this on a podcast, we ought to be putting our own skin in the game.

    42 min
  3. The Whole Ride: Youth Sports to College Drop-Off

    APR 6

    The Whole Ride: Youth Sports to College Drop-Off

    Rob Ludeman is back. When he first came on The Struggle Bubble in Season 1, his son Matt was a two-sport senior at Los Gatos High — starting at center in football playoffs and on the mount for baseball's post season. Matt's now a freshman pitcher at University of the Pacific, and Rob stopped by to discuss what it took to get there and his takeaways as a father. The recruiting process that came down to two late-season outings and a phone call between coaches. The D1-vs-JUCO decision that almost went the other way. The summer training programs that started the day he signed. The daily grind of college baseball where every hitter in the lineup was the best player at their high school and some of your teammates are 24 years old. Rob talks about what travel ball actually contributed (zero recruiting videos watched, for the record), why multi-sport athletes have an edge, and what he'd tell himself ten years ago: put the scorebook away and just watch the game. If you're a parent in the thick of youth sports wondering what the end of this road actually looks like — this is the episode.

    51 min
  4. You Asked, We Answered

    MAR 31

    You Asked, We Answered

    No guest this week — just Chad and Craig, a stack of listener questions, and zero filter. Craig's fresh off a brutal week commuting to RSA in San Francisco ("two hours to go 55 miles"), and Chad's still processing a nail-biting state cup match in Davis that went to PKs in the final three seconds. So yeah — business as usual in the Struggle Bubble. The episode opens with a quick follow-up on Andrew McRobbie's appearance last week and the wave of listener messages it sparked — parents saying they'd never considered that any given game could be the last one. From there, Chad and Craig rip through a Q&A covering the stuff their audience actually lives with every weekend: is club soccer worth thousands a year? What do you do when you feel yourself becoming the sideline parent you swore you'd never be? Should your kid quit Little League for travel ball? And what happens when a parent tells a volunteer coach they're "ruining the sport"? The back half gets more personal. They dig into what happens when a kid's entire identity is wrapped up in their sport, how to break the cycle of negative self-talk before a game, and whether anything they've said on this podcast has actually changed their own behavior. (Spoiler: Chad doesn't know his son's baseball record for the first time in ten years. Progress.) They close with the question from the very first Q&A episode — what would you do without kids? Episode presented by Gaimplan

    44 min
  5. Extend the Timeline, Not the Highlight Reel

    MAR 24

    Extend the Timeline, Not the Highlight Reel

    Andrew McRobbie has been in the middle of all of it as Director at All-Stars SC in Saratoga — and as a stepdad who just watched his daughter's soccer career end without knowing it was her last game. Chad, Craig, and Andrew get into the real stuff: why 91% of academy players never play a professional minute, what "elite" actually means (hint: someone's paying you), the social media trap that's teaching kids to chase highlights instead of fundamentals, and Andrew's one-line philosophy every soccer parent needs to hear. His three-year-old Jude also makes an appearance in a vintage Aberdeen kit, which is its own kind of struggle.

    58 min
  6. Did You Win? (And Why We Can't Stop Asking)

    MAR 16

    Did You Win? (And Why We Can't Stop Asking)

    Episode 35 Presented by Gaimplan This week it's just Chad and Craig — no guest, no filter, a lot of real talk. They kick things off in the middle of their own Struggle Bubble: Chad's packing for a youth soccer tournament in Davis while baseball opening day looms, and Craig's sneaking in a podcast recording while Brittain manages a dance competition across town. Chaotic? Yes. On-brand? Absolutely. From there the conversation goes deep on a question they keep circling back to: why are we doing this? Not "this" as in the podcast — but all of it. The travel tournaments. The pressure. The sideline screaming. The dad who's keeping a mental scorecard of which league his ten-year-old is in. They dig into comparison culture in youth sports, what actually happens to the kids who aren't getting game time, and what it means to reframe a tournament as a mini vacation rather than a must-win. They also get into a wild real-life story: an opposing coach who pulled his entire team off the field mid-game over a physical-but-legal soccer match — and what it says about the state of youth coaching, burnout, and the economic pressures that are quietly running the show. The back half of the episode hits on something more personal: what we model for our kids when we struggle ourselves. Chad talks about going back to weightlifting after 25 years. Craig talks about getting destroyed by a Theraband in a dance studio full of twelve-year-olds. And both of them make the same point: when our kids see us fail and watch how we respond — that's the real coaching. Key ThemesThe comparison trap in youth sports — and how it starts at the club level, not just the sidelineWhy the first question after a game ("did you win?") might be the most damaging one we askProcess over outcome — and what that actually looks like in practice for a parentLetting kids fail, struggle, and advocate for themselvesCoaching burnout, pay-to-play culture, and the economic motive that corrupts youth sportsModeling grit: what your kids learn when they watch you do hard things

    52 min
  7. Effort Over Outcome with Heath Clark

    MAR 9

    Effort Over Outcome with Heath Clark

    Heath Clark has been coaching football and teaching history at Los Gatos High School since 2008. He's the kind of coach whose former players still come back. He's also the kind of dad who had to stop going to his daughter's flag football games — not because of scheduling, but because a parent accused his 14-year-old of conspiring to throw a game. For five-year-olds. That story is the tip of it. This episode tears into what we've gotten wrong about youth sports, education, and what "success" actually means when your kid is eight and everyone around you is acting like the scouts are watching. Heath talks about why football is actually better learned late, why the hardest workers — not the biggest kids — end up ahead, and why he writes a single sentence for himself before every season about who he's trying to be as a coach. This year's word: love. Chad and Craig push into specialization, the pay-to-play trap, and why the best Sunday of flag football season happened when nobody kept score. The conversation also gets into Heath's nonprofit, We Train LG — built because paying to play shouldn't lock kids out. NFL guys and awkward seventh graders train side by side on the same principles: work hard, get better, be a good human. Craig wraps it with a challenge from his English childhood: backpacks for goalposts, a dad with a ball, and nobody getting in a fight. That's it. That's the whole model.

    49 min

  8. MAR 2

    We're back...again?!

    The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including the start of season two, challenges of podcasting, high school soccer, AI and technology, youth sports, coaching, and the impact of technology on education and sports. The conversation also delves into the importance of feedback, mental preparation, and the role of parents in youth sports. Chapters 00:00 Season Two Kickoff and Podcasting Challenges07:03 High School Soccer and Coaching Approach17:02 AI, Technology, and Education in Sports26:12 Youth Sports and Parental Role

    38 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

The Struggle Bubble is a dynamic podcast that dives deep into the real-life challenges faced by modern professionals, parents, and individuals in high-performance environments. Hosted by Chad Kutting and Craig Surgey, this show offers a raw and honest look at the juggling act of balancing career ambitions, family responsibilities, and personal well-being. Each episode features candid conversations about the pressures of living in tech-centric communities, the evolving landscape of parenting, and the constant push-pull between professional success and personal fulfillment. The hosts share their own experiences and insights, often bringing in guest experts to provide diverse perspectives on navigating life's complexities. The Struggle Bubble is more than just a podcast; it's a community where listeners can find relatable stories, practical advice, and a sense of camaraderie in facing life's everyday struggles. Whether you're a Silicon Valley techie, a busy parent, or anyone trying to find balance in a fast-paced world, this podcast offers valuable insights and a reminder that you're not alone in your journey. Join Chad and Craig as they unpack the realities of modern life, share laughs over common frustrations, and explore strategies for thriving amidst the chaos. "The Struggle Bubble" - because sometimes, the most comforting thing is knowing we're all in this together.

Information

  • Creator
    Chad Kutting and Craig Surgey
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Chad Kutting and Craig Surgey
  • Show Website
    The Struggle Bubble

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