Terms of Use

Tough Leaders Academy LLC

Effective: October 16, 2026

The short version

This summary is part of the Terms, but the full sections below control.

TLA is for adults: coaches and parents. You must be 18 or older to use anything we offer. We do not open accounts for, sell to or market to anyone under 18.
The Captain's Practice is free for coaches. You may use it and print the Captain's Cards for the teams you coach. You may not sell it, republish it or remove our name from it.
The Ride Home and Forge are for parents of athletes who are 13 or older. Never use them about a child under 13.
Forge is paid. The Founding Season is $149, charged once. It does not renew, so there is nothing to cancel. You get a full refund if you ask within 14 days after your first Monday email.
Our material is educational leadership content. It is not counseling, therapy, medical or mental-health advice, or athletic training. We do not promise playing time, a captaincy or a scholarship.
Coaches run sessions with their own athletes under their own school's or club's rules. TLA provides content only and does not supervise athletes.
No chatbot talks to your kid. No athlete is filmed for TLA content.
If something goes wrong, email us first. If we can't fix it, Ohio law applies and cases go to court in Hamilton County, Ohio. There is no arbitration clause and no class-action waiver.

1. Who we are and what these Terms cover

1.1 "TLA," "we," "us" and "our" mean Tough Leaders Academy LLC, an Ohio limited liability company. Our mailing address is 9891 Montgomery Road, PMB 181, Cincinnati, OH 45242. Our email is mitch@toughleadersacademy.com.

1.2 These Terms cover our website at https://www.toughleadersacademy.com, our emails, our printable materials, our paid programs and our seminars (together, the "Services").

1.3 You accept these Terms when you sign up for any of the Services, buy anything from us, or use our materials. If you do not agree, please do not use the Services.

1.4 Our Privacy Policy explains what information we collect and how we use it. Our Safeguarding Policy explains how we protect young athletes. Both are part of these Terms.

2. Who may use TLA

2.1 Adults only. You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a contract to use the Services. We do not open accounts for, sell to or market to anyone under 18.

2.2 The Captain's Practice is for adults who coach a team, such as high school head coaches, assistant coaches and club coaches.

2.3 The Ride Home and Forge are for parents and legal guardians of athletes who are 13 or older. You may not use them about a child under 13. When we say "parent" in these Terms, we include legal guardians.

2.4 Athletes do not use TLA directly. Athletes take part only through an adult: a coach running a session in their own locker room, or a parent running Forge at home. We do not collect personal information from or about athletes. The only exceptions are the fixed, non-identifying choices a parent picks in The Ride Home (see section 3.2), a signed family recording release that a parent and athlete choose to give us, and records we keep to protect a child's safety. Our Privacy Policy explains each one.

2.5 If you sign up for or buy something on behalf of a school, club or booster organization, you confirm you are allowed to act for that organization, and these Terms bind it too.

3. What we offer

3.1 The Captain's Practice (free, for coaches)

A coach signs up with an email address, first name, roster size and sport. The coach then gets twelve weekly emails, sent Mondays at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. Each email is a 15-minute leadership session the coach runs with their own team in their own locker room. Each week links to a printable Captain's Card on our website.

TLA never sees, contacts or collects anything about the athletes. Cards stay with the coach and the team. For example, the coach collects the week 1 cards and hands them back in week 12. TLA never receives them.

3.2 The Ride Home (free, for parents)

The Ride Home is for parents of athletes 13 or older. A parent answers a short five-question form by picking from fixed choices, such as how car rides after games usually go, a short description of the athlete's situation, and the sport. The parent confirms the athlete is 13 or older. We do not ask for the athlete's name, contact details or any free-text description of the athlete. The parent then gets a report email written for that situation, then two short follow-ups, about four and ten days after signing up. Then the emails stop.

3.3 Forge (paid, for parents)

Forge is a 12-week family program the parent runs. It includes one email to the parent every Monday, with a question to ask and a printable card, and a monthly live call for parents. Your athlete never has to open an email or sign up for anything. The Founding Season, its price and refunds are covered in section 9.

3.4 Seminars (paid, for teams)

We deliver leadership seminars for teams, in person or by video call. Seminars are booked on request by a school, club or organization. Section 10 covers booking, payment and changes.

3.5 Things we may add later

We may later add more Forge seasons or plans, a live cohort for coaches, and AI assistants for adult members and coaches. Each will be for adults only. Any AI assistant will be for coaches and parents, never for athletes. We will post any extra terms for a new offering before it opens.

4. Your license to use The Captain's Practice and Captain's Cards

4.1 What you get. If you sign up for The Captain's Practice, we give you a free, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the session emails and Captain's Cards with the teams you coach. This license is free of charge, and we can end it under section 18.

4.2 You may:

run the sessions with any team you coach, now or in a later season;
print as many Captain's Cards as your athletes need and hand them out, including through your school's print shop;
have assistant coaches on your staff help you run the sessions;
adjust the wording out loud to fit your team in the moment.

4.3 You may not:

sell the material, charge anyone for it, or include it in anything you sell;
republish or post it where the public can see it, such as a website, social media, a public shared drive or a course platform;
remove or cover the Tough Leaders Academy name or credit line on the cards;
present the material as your own, or rebrand it;
make your own product, course or curriculum from it for others to use;
forward the emails to other coaches as a substitute for signing up. Send them to our sign-up page instead, so they get the material directly and these Terms apply to them;
use the material to train or build an AI model or tool.

4.4 Credit. If you quote a line from the material in public, such as in a social post or a talk, credit "Tough Leaders Academy."

4.5 When it ends. If the license ends, stop using the emails and stop printing new cards. Cards you already handed to your athletes can stay with them. What an athlete writes on a card belongs to the athlete.

4.6 Forge and The Ride Home material is licensed to you for personal use within your own household. Please do not share it outside your family.

5. What we own

5.1 TLA owns the Services and everything in them, including the session scripts, Captain's Cards, Forge cards and emails, Film Study emails, Ride Home reports, seminar material, website text, graphics, videos and logos. These are protected by copyright and other laws. Except for the licenses in section 4, we do not give you any rights in them.

5.2 Our names and logos are our trademarks. They include Tough Leaders Academy, The Captain's Practice, Captain's Cards, The Ride Home, Forge and Film Study. Do not use them in a way that suggests we endorse you, partner with you or sponsor your program, unless we agree in writing.

6. Things you send us

6.1 If you send us a message, feedback, a story, a quote or a video, you keep ownership of it. You give us permission to use it to run and improve the Services.

6.2 We will only share something you send us publicly, such as a testimonial or a video, if you tell us we may. When we share it, we will use the name and title you approve, or none.

6.3 Coach videos. If you send us a video, film only yourself, after the session, in an empty room. Do not include any athlete's face, voice, name or jersey. We will not use any video that shows or identifies an athlete.

6.4 Do not send us information about any athlete. That includes names, photos, cards, contact details and anything an athlete wrote or said. If you send us something like that by mistake, we will delete it, unless we need to keep it to protect a child's safety under our Safeguarding Policy.

7. Rules for using TLA

When you use the Services, you agree not to:

sign up anyone else, or give us an email address that is not yours;
send us a list of parents' or athletes' email addresses. We will not add them;
give us false information, including about your age or your athlete's age;
use the Services to contact, recruit or market to minors;
copy, scrape or download the Services in bulk, or try to get into parts of our systems you are not meant to reach;
interfere with the website, the emails or anyone else's use of them;
use the Services to harass, threaten or harm anyone, or to break the law;
break the license limits in section 4.

8. Emails from us

8.1 Your consent. When you sign up, you agree to get the emails for the program you joined. For example, the twelve Captain's Practice sessions, or The Ride Home report and its two follow-ups. We may also send occasional emails about other TLA programs. We send all of our emails through our email provider, Kit.

8.2 Unsubscribe any time. Every email has an unsubscribe link. If you unsubscribe from The Captain's Practice, the remaining sessions stop.

8.3 Account emails for Forge buyers. If you buy Forge, we will still send you emails we need to run your Founding Season, even if you unsubscribe from marketing emails. These include your receipt, live-call details and any refund confirmation. Forge itself is delivered by email, so unsubscribing from Forge emails stops the program. It does not by itself give you a refund. Refunds are covered in section 9.4.

8.4 Deleting your information. Write to mitch@toughleadersacademy.com to have your information deleted. See our Privacy Policy for details.

8.5 How we handle email and AI. Emails sent to TLA may be sorted, and replies drafted, with help from an AI assistant. We also use it to help draft content. Mitch reads every reply before it goes out. We never enter athletes' names or details into AI tools, and we never use AI to make decisions about an athlete. Emails about a safeguarding concern are kept out of the AI assistant and read by Mitch himself. We use AI providers under terms that don't allow them to train their models on our data. Our Privacy Policy has the details.

9. Paid program: Forge, the Founding Season

The one-minute version

Founding Season, $149, paid once. It does not renew. We will not charge your card again.

Starts January 4, 2027. One email to you every Monday for 12 weeks, plus a live call with Mitch each month.

The pre-sale closes December 12, 2026.

Refunds: full refund if you ask within 14 days after your first Monday Forge email arrives, and a full refund if Forge does not start by January 18, 2027. Details in 9.4.

9.1 What the Founding Season is

The Founding Season is one 12-week season of Forge, from January 4 to March 22, 2027. It includes:

one email to you every Monday for 12 weeks, with this week's question for practice days, what to listen for, the one thing not to say, and a printable card for the fridge;
a live call with Mitch each month, in January, February and March (see 9.5);
a before-and-after check, where your athlete rates themselves in week 1 and again in week 12.

Everything is sent to the parent. Your athlete never has to open an email or sign up for anything. Families who buy the Founding Season are called "founding households."

9.2 Price and payment

The Founding Season costs $149, paid once at checkout. It does not renew, and we will not charge your card again unless you choose to buy something else from us. Prices are in US dollars. Prices include any sales tax we are required to collect.

Before you pay, the checkout page shows the price and that it is a one-time charge. You must check a box to agree to these Terms before you pay. Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not see or store your full card number. You get an emailed receipt.

9.3 Pre-sale and start date

The pre-sale closes December 12, 2026. If you buy during the pre-sale, your first Monday email will arrive on or about January 4, 2027.

9.4 Refunds

First 14 days: full refund if you ask within 14 days after your first Monday Forge email arrives. Just email us. No reason needed.
If we cancel Forge, or cannot start it by January 18, 2027: full refund of everything you paid for it.
If we end your access for a reason other than your breaking these Terms, we refund the unused part of what you paid.

To ask for a refund, write to mitch@toughleadersacademy.com from the email address you used to buy. Refunds go back to the card you paid with. Your bank may take several business days to post them.

9.5 Live calls

The Founding Season live calls are for parents. They run on Google Meet. If your athlete joins you on a call, you must be in the room with them for the whole call. We do not record these calls, and we never record a call that an athlete is on. Our Safeguarding Policy applies to every call.

10. Seminars

10.1 Booking. Seminars are booked on request. Email mitch@toughleadersacademy.com or use our contact form, and we will talk through what your team needs. We then confirm the date, format, price and any travel costs in a short written agreement. Email is fine. A date is held only after we have both confirmed that agreement in writing.

10.2 Payment. We send you an invoice. You can pay it by check, by ACH bank transfer, or by card through the payment link on the invoice. Card payments are processed by Stripe. The invoice states what is due and when. For in-person seminars, travel beyond 100 miles of Cincinnati is billed separately at cost, as agreed in writing before booking.

10.3 If you need to change the date. Tell us as soon as you can.

30 or more days before the seminar: you can move the date, or cancel for a full refund.
Fewer than 30 days before the seminar: we do not refund, but you can move the date once to any date within 12 months. If you need to cancel instead, we will also offer a video seminar in place of an in-person one. We may charge for non-refundable travel we have already booked.

10.4 If we need to change the date. If we must cancel or move a seminar because of illness, weather or an emergency, you choose: a new date, a switch to video, or a full refund. We are not responsible for your other costs, such as facility rental.

10.5 Supervision and athletes. When athletes attend a seminar, in person or on video:

an adult from your school or club, such as a coach, must be in the room for the entire seminar;
no TLA adult will be alone with an athlete, or contact an athlete one-on-one before or after;
we do not photograph, film or record athletes for TLA content;
you are responsible for the venue, for supervising the athletes, and for any permissions your school or club requires.

Our Safeguarding Policy applies to every seminar.

10.6 Seminar agreements. If the written agreement for your seminar, including one confirmed by email, differs from these Terms, that agreement controls for that seminar.

11. Coaches are responsible for their own athletes

11.1 If you run The Captain's Practice, you run it as a coach for your school or club, not for TLA. You are not TLA's employee, contractor or agent.

11.2 You are responsible for:

following your school's or club's policies, including any approvals it requires before you use outside material;
supervising your athletes during sessions;
deciding whether a session fits your team on a given day;
meeting your own legal duties, including any duty to report concerns about a child's safety.

11.3 TLA provides content only. We do not supervise athletes and we are not present at sessions.

11.4 If an athlete writes or says something heavier than the exercise asked for, do not handle it in front of the team. Find the athlete privately afterward and take it to whoever your school or club has for this, such as a counselor or athletic director. If a child may be in danger, contact the proper authorities.

12. Not professional advice

TLA material is educational leadership content. It is not counseling, therapy, medical advice, mental-health advice, or athletic or strength training. It is not a substitute for a doctor, counselor, therapist, athletic trainer or other professional. Using TLA does not create a professional relationship with anyone.

If you are worried about an athlete's health, safety or mental health, contact a qualified professional. In an emergency, call 911. For a mental-health crisis, call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

13. No guaranteed outcomes

We want our material to help. But we do not promise any result, including playing time, a starting spot, a captaincy, a team record, college recruiting or a scholarship, or any change in an athlete's attitude, behavior or relationships. Results depend on the athlete, the family, the coach and many things outside our control.

14. Other companies' services

We use other companies to run the Services. These include Squarespace (website and contact form), Kit (email and sign-up forms), Stripe (Forge payments and card payments on seminar invoices) and Google (email and video calls). When you use their pages, such as Stripe's checkout or payment pages, their own terms and privacy policies also apply. We are not responsible for their services, but we choose them with care. Our website may link to other websites. We do not control them.

15. Disclaimers

To the extent the law allows, we provide the Services "as is" and "as available." We do not promise that the website or emails will always be available, free of errors or delivered on time. For example, an email may land in a spam folder. We do not make any other promises about the Services beyond the ones in these Terms. This section does not limit any rights you have under consumer protection laws that cannot be waived.

16. Limit on our liability

16.1 To the extent the law allows, TLA is not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, such as lost profits or lost opportunities, arising from the Services.

16.2 To the extent the law allows, TLA's total liability for any claim about the Services is limited to the greater of (a) what you paid TLA in the 12 months before the claim arose, or (b) $100.

16.3 Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or bodily injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, for gross negligence or willful misconduct, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit.

17. Indemnity

17.1 Coaches and parents. If you knowingly break these Terms or the law, for example by selling or republishing our material, and someone brings a claim against TLA because of it, you agree to cover TLA's reasonable costs of that claim, including reasonable attorney fees. This does not apply to claims caused by TLA, and it does not apply just because you used our material as these Terms allow.

17.2 Organizations that book seminars. You agree to cover TLA's reasonable costs, including reasonable attorney fees, of claims arising from your venue, your supervision of athletes, or your staff's acts, except to the extent TLA caused them.

18. Ending your use

18.1 You can stop using the Services at any time. Unsubscribe from emails, and write to us if you want your information deleted. Forge refunds follow section 9.4.

18.2 We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms, if we need to for legal or safety reasons, or if we stop offering a program. Where it is reasonable, we will tell you first. If we end your Forge access for a reason other than your breaking these Terms, we refund the unused part (see section 9.4).

18.3 Sections 4.5, 5, 6, 12 through 17, 19 and 21 continue after your use ends.

19. Disputes: talk first, then Ohio courts

19.1 Talk to us first. If you have a problem, email mitch@toughleadersacademy.com with "Dispute" in the subject. Tell us what happened and what you want. We will do the same if we have a problem with you. Both sides agree to try in good faith to work it out for 30 days before filing a lawsuit. This does not stop either side from asking a court for urgent relief, such as stopping someone from republishing our material.

19.2 Ohio law. Ohio law governs these Terms, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.

19.3 Where cases are heard. Any lawsuit must be brought in the state courts located in Hamilton County, Ohio, or in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, at Cincinnati. Either side may instead use a small claims court that has jurisdiction.

19.4 Your home-state rights. If you are a consumer and the law where you live gives you the right to bring a claim in your home courts, or gives you other protections that cannot be waived, these Terms do not take those rights away.

19.5 No arbitration. These Terms do not require arbitration, and they do not waive your right to join a class action.

20. Changes to these Terms

20.1 We may update these Terms. We will post the new version on this page with a new effective date.

20.2 If a change is significant, we will email current subscribers and Forge buyers at least 30 days before it takes effect. A change does not apply to a Founding Season you already paid for unless you agree to it.

20.3 Changes do not apply to a dispute that arose before the change.

21. General

Whole agreement. These Terms, our Privacy Policy and our Safeguarding Policy are the whole agreement between you and TLA about the Services, except where a written seminar agreement says otherwise (see section 10.6).
If part is invalid. If a court finds part of these Terms unenforceable, the rest still applies.
No waiver. If we do not enforce a term right away, we can still enforce it later.
Transfer. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms. We may transfer ours to a company that takes over TLA, and these Terms will continue to protect you.
Events outside our control. We are not responsible for delays caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as severe weather, power or internet outages, or illness.
Electronic notices. You agree that we may give you notices by email, and that those notices count as "in writing."

22. Contact

Tough Leaders Academy LLC, 9891 Montgomery Road, PMB 181, Cincinnati, OH 45242

Email: mitch@toughleadersacademy.com

Website: https://www.toughleadersacademy.com