Rhett Gustafson

[Brad Stulberg @BStulberg]

Norway wins the most medals at the Winter Olympics, with a population of just 5.6 million. People say it’s because Norway is a winter wonderland, but they’re also elite at triathlon, beach volleyball, cycling, and as the world is now seeing, soccer.

A big part of their success is how they treat youth sports—and it’s the opposite of what we do in the US and Canada. Here’s what we can learn from Norway:

1. Scorekeeping:

In the US: Youth sports tend to be hyper competitive even at early ages. Leagues almost always keep score.

In Norway: Scorekeeping isn’t even allowed until age 13.

Removing winners and losers keeps the focus on the process not outcomes. It keeps kids engaged longer because it minimizes pressure (and tears) and maximizes fun, learning, and growth. The goal isn’t to win a third grade championship. It’s to love sport and keep playing.

2. Trophies:

In the US: If you give everyone a trophy, you’re creating snowflakes who will never gain a competitive edge.

In Norway: Whenever trophies are awarded, they are handed out to everyone.

If getting a trophy makes young kids feel good, we should give them trophies. Maybe they’ll come back and play again next year!!

As for the creation of snowflakes with no competitive edge—Norway’s athletes are tough as nails and all they do is win.

3. Prioritizing Fun:

In the US: Far too often, the goal is to win.

In Norway: The national philosophy is “joy of sport.”

Youth sports in the US are driven by adults, ego, and money. Youth sports in Norway are driven by fun.

Only half of kids in the US participate in sports. The number one reason they drop out: because they aren’t having fun anymore. In Norway, 93% of kids participate in youth sports. Fun is the foremost goal.

4. Playing Multiple Sports:

In the US: There’s pressure to specialize early and play your best sport year round.

In Norway: Try as many sports as you can before specializing as late as college.

Norway encourages kids to try all types of sport. This reduces injury and burnout and increases all-around athleticism. It also helps promotes match quality, or finding the sport you are best suited for as your body develops, which is impossible if you commit to a single sport too early.

5. Affordability

In the US: There is increasingly a pay-to-play model with high fees for leagues, equipment, and travel. This excludes many kids from playing.

In Norway: It’s a national priority to keep youth sports affordable and therefore accessible for all.

Kids aren’t priced out, which creates opportunities for everyone to participate (and develop into athletes), regardless of their parents’ income level.

Norway’s sporting success isn’t just speculation or a nice story. A large body of research supports their approach:

• Studies show athletes who specialize later in life have a significantly higher chance of becoming elite.
• Soccer players whose motivation is primarily internal (versus external) have more than a 3x better chance of making it to an elite level.
• The number one predictor of whether or not kids stay in sport is are they having fun.
• Parents connect winning to having fun whereas kids say having fun is about being with their friends and learning.

We could learn a lot from Norway:

In the US, 70% of kids drop out of youth sports by age 13. This not only diminishes an elite-athlete pipeline, but it also destroys an opportunity for healthy habits and all the character lessons kids can learn from sport.

In Norway, lifelong participation in sport is the norm. The goal isn’t to have the best 9U team. It’s to develop the best athletes. Those are two very different things. And Norway has the medals to prove it.

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@binchpower @BasedMikeLee Joseph Smith built his own religion based on salvation via works, directly contra the words of Jesus, and the also Paul:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Eph 2:8-9

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@BasedMikeLee Joseph Smith built his own religion based on salvation via works, directly contra the words of Jesus, and the also Paul:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Eph 2:8-9

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@BasedMikeLee Just like Christian Scientists are not Christian because they have “Christ” in their name.

[DyeStat @DyeStat]

Illinois Girls State Meet Recap 2026: Mia Sirois Runs No. 5 All-Time 3,200

By @davidwoods007 📰 https://t.co/eeSSOXEmJV

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

Justice Kagan:

"I dissent. The Voting Rights Act is—or, now more accurately, was—'one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nation's history.' It was born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers. It ushered in awe-inspiring change, bringing this Nation closer to fulfilling the ideals of democracy and racial equality. And it has been repeatedly, and overwhelmingly, reauthorized by the people's representatives in Congress. Only they have the right to say it is no longer needed—not the Members of this Court. I dissent, then, from this latest chapter in the majority's now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act."

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@FullscriptHQ is your mobile app down?

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@DHSgov https://t.co/zThshEAEmv

[Outspoken™️ @Out5p0ken]

Every single Republican voted no to fund TSA.

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good…”
Matthew 5:44-45

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

TWEEPS: The SAVE Act requires passports and birth certificates just to vote. Those cost money. When politicians make you pay money to exercise a constitutional right, that’s a poll tax.

I need 1,000 fast RTs and replies using #SaveActIsPayToVote

Please and thank you! 🙏💪

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

Senator Hagerty says 80% of Americans support voter ID — so what’s the problem with the SAVE Act?

Here’s the problem Senator Durbin already explained on the Senate floor:

The SAVE Act doesn’t accept driver’s licenses.

50% of Americans don’t have passports.

80% of Americans support voter ID.

Zero percent of Americans support accidentally disenfranchising themselves.

The people most likely to lack passports:

— The elderly
— The poor
— Rural Americans
— Young first-time voters
— Military families who move frequently
The people most likely to have passports:

— Wealthy Americans

No one is defending illegal voting.

The question is why a voter ID bill was written in a way that disqualifies the most common form of American ID.

Senator Hagerty doesn’t want to answer that.

Neither does anyone else who wrote it.

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@SteveWood051 @C_3C_3 Define “real American”

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@C_3C_3 Undocumented immigrants generally cannot receive federal welfare benefits such as:
•SNAP
•SSI
•TANF
•Regular Medicaid

However, they can receive:
•Emergency Medicaid (life-threatening care)
•Public education (K-12)
•Emergency disaster relief
•WIC

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@w_terrence Where is your correction Terrence where’s the apology?

[White House Xray @xray_media]

Johnson frames constitutional rights as bureaucratic burdens—a chilling inversion where liberty becomes the obstacle to "security." The admin's Orwellian logic: freedom requires faceless force.

Their rejection of warrants enabled 164,000 warrantless searches last quarter—a 24% surge—while yielding contraband in just 4% of cases. Masked agents conducted 42 anonymous raids in January alone, evading accountability. Yet they risk shutting DHS in 10 days to protect this shadow apparatus, ignoring 60,000 unpaid agents and a $1.2B FEMA hole.

This isn't governance—it's the systematic dismantling of due process to cement unchecked executive power.

[Aden.eth @foxandwildgoose]

@TheRickWilson Important moment for sustainable operations and reducing uncertainty

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@EYakoby Inspiring

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

@JDVance Weak point, pound podium

[Rhett Gustafson @RhettGustafson]

HCR says this might be Trump’s Kent State moment.