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In this episode of the Living MaxJoy Podcast, ESF Co-Founder Michael Rouse sits down with legendary Trinity College squash coach Paul Assaiante for a conversation on specialization, character, and resilience for young athletes.

Meet Paul Assaiante

Over three decades at Trinity, Paul built a dynasty that’s never been matched in college athletics — 17 national titles in 22 years and a 252-match unbeaten streak. He’s a two-time U.S. Olympic Coach of the Year and has coached Team USA for years.

Play Everything, Keep It Fun

Paul recruits elite talent from around the world, which gives him a rare vantage point: he can spot, almost immediately, which recruits specialized too young. The pattern isn’t more talent, it’s more overuse injuries, more mental fatigue, and sometimes kids who quietly walk away from a sport they used to love. His message to parents chasing an early “edge” is blunt: it usually backfires.

This is the same philosophy behind ESF’s Multi-Sports Camp, where campers rotate through soccer, basketball, baseball, flag football, lacrosse, tennis, and more — broad exposure early, specialization later, if at all.

We, Not Me

Paul’s Trinity rosters have been full of individually elite players recruited from all over the world, exactly the kind of group that could fracture into a collection of egos. Instead, he built his program around a “we-not-me” philosophy, embodied in his “Bomb Squad,” a group of bench players treated as full equals to his stars. Michael and Paul talk through how that same philosophy plays out in families and workplaces.

Run to the Roar

The episode borrows its title from Paul’s book, built around Trinity’s 2009 final against Princeton. It comes from a story about lionesses using an old lion’s roar to send prey running straight into a hidden trap, a reminder that facing fear is often safer than fleeing it. Paul also wrote the book partly as an apology to his own kids for the time his career took him away from them. And there’s news: the book is headed to the big screen, timed to release before squash debuts at the 2028 LA Olympics.

Listen to Episode 6 of the Living MaxJoy Podcast now, and until next time, keep living with purpose, gratitude, and MaxJoy.

Living MaxJoy is brought to you by ESF Camps & Experiences in partnership with Nemours Children’s Health. Learn more about our partnership with Nemours.