Meet Seth Davis: Five Questions with Youth Inc.'s Life Skills Ambassador

Seth Davis, Editor-in-Chief of Hoops HQ and college basketball commentator, is a respected sports journalist known for his thoughtful commentary and storytelling. He connects with fans through platforms like Twitter and TikTok, is an author of John Wooden's biography and is a public speaker. Seth Davis is Youth Inc.’s Life Skills Ambassador.

We asked him five questions about his journey in youth sports, life advice, and more.

1. What is your favorite youth sports memory?

Interestingly enough my favorite memory is a very painful one. I was a 15-year-old camper at Camp Equinunk. I had just played in the big end-of-summer basketball game. It was my last as a camper and it was a game I had been looking forward to since I was nine years old. We played very poorly and lost. The game only involved the oldest campers but it was part of something called "color war" which is where they divide the entire camp into two teams, Red and Gray. We were all devastated, and after the game our whole team (meaning half the camp) was in a room trying to rally. It felt like a funeral in there so I stepped up in front of the team and gave an impassioned speech about how we were all going to bounce back for the final day of color war. It was the first time I really grew being a leader, and it wouldn't have happened if we had won. There's an important lesson in that!

2. Who has been the most influential person or coach in your life?

I know these questions are about coaches, but I'll do something similar and go with my high school English teacher, Mr. London. I took his American Literature class for two years. He was the best teacher at the school but he was a notoriously hard grader who rarely gave out A's. Finally, towards the end of my senior year I wrote a paper he liked so much that he actually read the first few paragraphs out loud to every class that day. It was incredibly validating and gave me confidence that as a writer I actually had something to say.

3. What’s one lesson that you’ve learned through your sport that has shaped your life?

 To stay in the moment. That's the hardest thing to do in life — don't fret about the past, don't worry about the future. Just stay present and do the best you can, and good or bad, once a play is over, it's time to move on to the next one.

4. What advice would you give to your 10-year old self?

When we are young (and even when we are old) we devote most of our energy towards pursuing things that benefit us most of all. Competition is wonderful, winning is nice, but I think kindness matters most of all. Of course, to put others' worth before your own requires a high dose of self-confidence that most 10-year-olds don't have (a lot of 55-year-olds don't have it either), but once you come to understand that you and only you can establish your self worth, then serving others becomes not only more natural, but far more rewarding.

5. What is a belief or motto that you live by?

Please be kind! Simple to say, harder to do. And by the way, the most important person we need to be kinder to is ourselves. Too often we are our own worst critic. I know that's the case with me (and I have a LOT of critics out there). But if you fall back on simple kindness then you will be greatly rewarded.

More from Seth Davis

This conversation between Seth Davis and Tom Crean explores the dynamics between parents, coaches, and players in basketball. Tom discusses how he would handle both player-coach relationships and parent coach relationships, ensuring that development was at the root of each:

Check out HoopsHQ for more basketball content from Seth Davis.

During college basketball season, Seth Davis can be found as a studio analyst on CBS Sports:

For more from Seth, follow him on Instagram, X, and TikTok.