Developing Champions On and Off the Mat with Danna Durante and Sami Durante-Money
- S8E74
- 37:18
- March 3rd 2025
The gymnastics program Danna Durante is building at UNC Chapel Hill is truly impressive. Danna and her daughter, Sami, who is also a coach on the staff, dive into how they coach a team of gymnasts through the ups and downs of a meet, a season, and prepare them for a life beyond the gym.
It's a wide-ranging conversation with leadership lessons that any of us can apply, whether we're in the gym, in the office, or at home, and as a mother-daughter duo, Danna and Sami have a lot to teach us.
Show Outline
- 3:20 - Working as a Mother-Daughter Duo
- 5:27 - Developing Athletes Beyond Gymnastics
- 10:19 - Sami on Navigating the Role of a Young Coach
- 12:24 - Preparation and Encouragement on Meet Day
- 15:31 - Danna on Leading a Team of Coaches
- 20:14 - Handling Failure and Growth
- 26:22 - Developing Consistency in Performance
- 29:06 - Personal Development and Life Lessons
- 32:09 - Connecting with Student-Athletes
Quotes from the Show
"I get to not just invest in the student athletes, but invest in the coaches and make sure they have what they need." - Danna (14:25)
"Looking back, if I would just give myself a little bit more grace, I feel like it would have taken me a little bit further." - Sami (24:04)
"I've always been really comfortable with the work ethic piece, but the connection piece and understanding how valuable relationships are and how to work. For me, it is work." - Danna (35:21)
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The New Generation Leader Podcast: Powered by the 5 Voices
In Episode 74, Sami references developing her Voice and speaking up, while Danna mentions building her focus on relationships.
What is your growing edge? That's the power of the 5 Voices.
Find Your Leadership Voice today with the free assessment.
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Full Transcript - Episode 74
Coming soon!
The New Generation Leader with Aaron Lee
You are an expert at your business strategy, but now it's time to build your People Strategy. On the New Generation Leader, we'll build your toolkit for a high performing team, increasing your profits and making a significant impact in your community.
The building blocks of a New Generation Leader will help you be the leader our digital world needs you to be.
Aaron’s passion is to solve the leadership crisis for leaders and teams. He has consulted and spoken with government agencies, healthcare, nonprofits, and higher education institutions.
Aaron is an ACC-certified coach, the author of The New Generation Leader. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond and holds a Master of Divinity.
Aaron lives in Richmond with his wife and 2 daughters.
I help leaders lean into crises and harvest the chaos they've experienced so that they can rise and accomplish their goals with passion and unwavering confidence.
I grew up in a small town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. My early years were spent operating a shovel for my father's paving company; mowing grass, running a swimming pool, emptying trash and cleaning a bathhouse in the campground we owned, trying to find time for sports and if possible, picking up hay for local farmers. Life was about hands-on, hard work, with no fear of getting dirty in the process.
I always enjoyed meeting new people and spending time listening to stories about family and the lives of folks from all over the country. The knowledge attained from just listening can be key to growing wiser.
I am passionate about helping folks get to where they dream of being and connecting them to those who may be able to help them realize those dreams more quickly.
For over 25 years, I have been helping business leaders finally reach their goals by effectively showing and competently coaching them through their blind spots. They can now effectively speak into the lives of others so that they will be heard, seen, and known.
Through this skill of developing my clients, they are able to increase their leadership capacity towards professional and personal goal accomplishment.
Growth at work becomes an intentional result of the passion they have through a shared vision of company goals, and in collaboration with their trusted leadership.
Jay Smack has been doing voiceovers professionally for over 20 years.
A background in nearly all facets of the industry, from broadcasting, to recording, mixing, engineering, post-production, copywriting, advertising, even custom music composition, provides a unique perspective from both sides of the desk.
Jay has a wide range of voices in his repertoire: movie-trailer deep-n-gritty to caring and friendly to character reads with vibes like Sam Elliott or Morgan Freeman to dry industrial to upbeat retail.