The Morning Hannah Ringer doesn't just coach athletes — she rebuilds how they think. On Episode 14 of The Morning Lift, Brendon Sadler and Lauren Rutan sat down with Hannah Ringer, founder of Beyond Development, a Cleveland-based training facility that works with athletes of every sport and age while putting mental and emotional development on equal footing with reps and sets. Hannah isn't a stranger to this crew — she's a former intern of Brendon's, a former Division I volleyball player out of Glen Oak High School, and now the owner of a 4,000-square-foot facility with a six-person staff behind her.
This episode is personal. Brendon coached Hannah in high school, which means this conversation isn't a polished pitch — it's a real then-versus-now breakdown of what she needed as a 16-year-old athlete, what she's built since, and what she's learned the hard way about leadership, business, and training young athletes' minds before their bodies. If you're a coach, a parent, or someone building your own brand in the fitness industry, this recap pulls the exact strategies and stories you need from the full conversation.
From Division I Volleyball to Building Beyond Development
Hannah grew up in North Canton, played for Glen Oak High School, and became the first volleyball player in school history to earn a Division I scholarship. She credits her club team, AVC, one of the best programs in the state, for preparing her for the jump to college — not because it was easy, but because she had to fight for a roster spot for the first time in her life after never coming off the court in high school.
That competitive, intense identity never left her. What changed is how she channels it. Beyond Development started small, built around female athletes and volleyball players, because that's where Hannah's network and passion naturally lived. But she knew early on that real growth meant diversifying — bringing in football, wrestling, and basketball athletes, and hiring staff who could connect with male athletes in ways she couldn't always reach solo.
Today, Beyond Development runs individual athlete programs, team training for major clubs, youth programs, and school leadership workshops — with Hannah personally going into schools across the Cleveland area. The business recently consolidated from a 900-square-foot spot in Mentor into one 4,000-square-foot facility, a move that came with its own brutal lesson in resilience (more on that below).
Training From the Inside Out: The Three Relationships That Matter
The core philosophy behind Beyond Development — and the throughline of this entire episode — is training from the inside out. Hannah's take is blunt: coaches are quick to fix a bad squat pattern but slow to address a kid spiraling after a mistake. "We kind of just neglect it," she said. The result is talented athletes who are emotionally immature under pressure.
Her framework breaks down into three relationships she builds with every athlete and team she works with:
Relationship with self — internal dialogue, sleep, nutrition, and knowing your own top values. Hannah said flatly that when she asks kids to name their top three values, many can't answer.
Relationship with others — real bonds with teammates and coaches that go beyond jersey numbers. Not "how many siblings do you have," but "what are you scared of."
Relationship with game — deliberate practice with actual purpose behind every rep, because purpose drives motivation.
This is the engine behind her adversity scale tool, where athletes rate a setback from 0 to 10 before reacting. A missed shot is maybe a 1 or 2 — but kids often respond like it's a 7. Hannah's goal is simple: teach the response before the crisis, not after.
Surviving the Roof Collapse: Lessons in Business Resilience
If you want proof that building a fitness business is never a straight line, Hannah's story about her new facility is it. Shortly after investing heavily in turf and equipment at her new 4,000-square-foot space, a roof repair went wrong and debris rained down across the entire gym. "It looked like I was walking in the desert," she said. Turf ruined. Equipment ruined. Dust everywhere. She had to shut the facility down for months.
What got Beyond Development through it wasn't luck — it was the relationships she'd already built. Clients stayed loyal through the shutdown, understanding that their training would shift but trusting the brand enough to wait it out. Hannah's response to the disaster mirrors exactly what she teaches her athletes: "You guys have gone through adversity. We're not going to cry about this. We're going to find a solution." If you're thinking about starting your own gym or training business, this is the real version of entrepreneurship nobody shows on the highlight reel.
Why Elite Mindset Beats Elite Athleticism
Asked whether she'd rather train an athlete with an elite mindset or raw athletic talent, Hannah didn't hesitate — mindset, every time. Her reasoning: you can teach technique to almost anyone, but you can't force an athlete to be coachable. "The room for improvement when you have the right mindset is so much greater than it is vice versa when we're closed-minded," she said.
This belief shapes everything at Beyond, down to specific tools she uses with young athletes. One is "recognize and redirect" — teaching kids to immediately follow a mistake with a positive or productive thought instead of spiraling. She also pushes kids to cut vague language like "I don't know" out of their vocabulary, forcing them to form and voice actual opinions, because that builds the self-confidence that carries into competition.
She's also unapologetic about one unpopular coaching opinion: kids today assume instant gratification is real. They watch highlight reels of elite lifts or LeBron's workouts and think they're ready to copy it, without putting in years of fundamental work first. At Beyond, the approach with 10-to-15-year-olds is intentionally simple — basic squat patterns, fundamental movement, no gimmicks, no BOSU-ball Instagram tricks.
Coaching Parents, Coaches, and Kids Through Burnout and Recovery
One of the most practical sections of the episode covers how to help kids with sports anxiety and overtraining — a problem Hannah sees constantly with AAU and club athletes who never get a real day off. She connects the dots directly: nonstop volume, poor nutrition, poor sleep, and social media pressure are combining to spike injuries and burnout in young athletes.
Her advice to parents is refreshingly simple: talk to your kid before you confront the coach. Encourage your athlete to advocate for themselves first, and if there's still a disconnect, have an honest, one-on-one conversation with the coach — who sees your kid in a completely different environment than you do.
She also distinguishes laziness from burnout by watching behavior patterns over time. A kid who's normally locked in but suddenly goes quiet, disengaged, or says "I don't know if I love this anymore" isn't lazy — they're struggling. "The heart's the engine," Hannah said. As long as a kid still says they love the sport, there's room to adjust training. The moment the heart's not in it, that's the real red flag.
Key Takeaways
- Build the person before the athlete — technical fixes matter, but emotional regulation and self-talk need the same coaching attention as a bad squat pattern.
- Use an adversity scale (0–10) to help athletes calibrate their reactions to actual setbacks instead of treating minor mistakes like catastrophes.
- Diversifying your client base — across sports, genders, and age groups — is often necessary to scale a coaching business beyond its original niche.
- Loyal clients are built through genuine relationships, not facilities; Hannah's gym survived a literal roof collapse because her clients trusted her, not the building.
- Parents should talk to their kid first and encourage self-advocacy before escalating concerns directly to a coach.
- Recovery isn't optional — mandate real downtime after a season, because volume without rest is driving injuries and burnout in young athletes.
- Elite mindset outperforms raw talent long-term, because coachability and resilience can be trained in ways natural athleticism alone cannot.
Want the full, unfiltered conversation — including Hannah's take on the "biggest lie in youth sports" and her five-year vision for Beyond Development? Hit play on the full episode and subscribe to The Morning Lift so you don't miss the next one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Hannah Ringer and what is Beyond Development?
Hannah Ringer is a former Division I volleyball player and founder of Beyond Development, a sports performance and mental training facility based in Cleveland, Ohio. Beyond Development trains athletes of all sports and ages, runs team training for club and youth programs, and delivers leadership workshops in local schools, all built around Hannah's "training from the inside out" philosophy.
How did Hannah Ringer get into coaching youth athletes?
Hannah's coaching path started as an intern under Brendon Sadler, where she absorbed lessons about culture and relationship-building in the weight room. She went on to play Division I volleyball, then transitioned into coaching and eventually launched Beyond Development, growing it from a 900-square-foot space into a 4,000-square-foot facility with a full coaching staff.
What does Beyond Development's training philosophy focus on?
The philosophy centers on three relationships: relationship with self (internal dialogue, values, habits), relationship with others (genuine bonds with teammates and coaches), and relationship with the game (purposeful, deliberate practice). Hannah believes training young athletes' mindset deserves the same attention coaches give to physical technique.
How can parents support young athletes without overstepping?
Hannah's advice is to have a conversation with your kid before confronting a coach about playing time or performance concerns. Encourage the athlete to advocate for themselves first, then follow up with an honest, direct conversation with the coach if issues remain unresolved.
What is the adversity scale Hannah Ringer uses with athletes?
It's a simple 0-to-10 tool Hannah uses to help athletes calibrate their emotional reactions. A missed rep or small mistake might rank as a 1 or 2, but many kids react as if it's a 7 or higher. Teaching athletes to recognize the real size of a setback helps them respond with composure instead of overreacting.
How does Beyond Development help with youth sports mental toughness?
Beyond Development runs proactive (not reactive) programming — building mental skills like internal dialogue control, recovery awareness, and relationship-building into regular training sessions, rather than waiting until an athlete is already struggling with anxiety or burnout to address it.
Conclusion
Hannah Ringer's episode is a masterclass in what it actually takes to build athletes — and a business — that last. From surviving a literal roof collapse to teaching 10-year-olds the fundamentals before the flash, her approach proves that physical training without emotional development only gets you halfway there. Whether you're a coach trying to reach a shut-down teenager, a parent trying to say the right thing, or an entrepreneur trying to grow past your original niche, this conversation hands you a blueprint worth stealing.
Go listen to the full episode — Hannah drops even more on her five-year vision for Beyond Development and the "biggest lie in youth sports" that didn't make the recap.
Listen to the Episode
Catch the full conversation with Hannah Ringer on The Morning Lift Podcast, available here. Subscribe so you never miss an episode on training, mindset, and the business of fitness.