I speak with Simon Gelsthorpe in this week's episode. Simon is a clinical psychologist who specialises in emotions. He works with sports coaches and sports organisations to help them be more psychological in their coaching, thereby improving athlete emotional well-being and performance. Simon is a visiting fellow at the University of Bradford with the Psychology Centre. He is also the developer of Emotionally Informed Coaching.
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Robin Owen and Prof Shuge Zhang in this week's episode. Robin is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Psychology at Liverpool Hope University. His research aims to advance our understanding of anxiety, attentional focus, motor control, skill acquisition, statistical prediction, cognitive functioning, and talent identification/development. Shuge is currently a research Professor in Sport & Exercise Psychology at Hunan University of Technology in China. He previously lectured at the University of Derby. Shuge is a chartered psychologist of the British Psychological Society and a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His research interest is the Person x Environment Interaction in performance and health contexts. In this episode, we discuss a fantastic paper Robin and Shuge contributed to which examined the impact of anxiety on performance in sports players.
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Alan McKay in this week's episode. Alan is an HCPC sport psychologist, researcher, and practitioner. He completed his PhD in sport psychology with the Football Association of Wales (FAW) and is currently working as a senior research assistant at the FAW Centre for Football Research, housed at the University of South Wales. In this role he helps to produce multidisciplinary, world-leading, applied performance science research to enhance the performance of Welsh athletes and organisations. Alan also works within elite level sport at both Welsh Triathlon and in his own company Mindframe Performance, where he has supported athletes competing at both the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. In this episode Alan and I discuss behaviour-based approaches to mental toughness in sport.
I am delighted to speak with Dr Erin Prior in this episode. Erin is a Chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist working across a range of sports. Erin has her own sport psychology consultancy practice working with a wide range of athletes, coaches, and parents to enhance their psychological approach to their sport. She has worked with a variety of sporting organisations including the FA, The Wheelchair Football Association, Swim England, West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa FC, and Leicestershire and Rutland Sport. Erin has also worked as a consultant for various universities including Warwick University, Coventry University, and Birmingham City University. Erin is also a Lecturer in Psychology at Loughborough University. Her research focuses on athlete mental health, specifically sporting staff understandings and experiences of supporting athlete mental health and illness. Erin graduated with a BSc in Psychology from Coventry University, followed by an MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Loughborough University. In 2020, Erin returned to the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University as a Post-Graduate University Teacher to undertake a part-time PhD alongside teaching in psychology and sport and exercise psychology. Erin's PhD explored how staff within elite sport conceptualise mental health and mental illness, staff experiences of managing athlete mental health support, and an Olympic athlete's experience of living with bipolar disorder. In this episode we discuss one of the papers from Erin's PhD.
I'm delighted to speak with Johan Forsberg in this week's episode. Johan is a mental performance coach and Swedish former professional ice hockey player. Johan helps individuals, groups and organisations to develop, feel and perform better. He is primarily interested in leadership, motivation and group dynamics. Johan has provided support and training for coaches, managers, and elite athletes. Prior to his work as a mental performance coach, Johan played professional ice hockey for 15 years including playing for Luleå HF, the highest level in the Swedish Hockey League.
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Phil Kearney in this week's episode. Phil is one of the world's leading skill acquisition specialists. He is Interim Course Director of the Masters and Applied Sports Coaching course at the University of Limerick. Phil completed his PhD at the University of Limerick, exploring the application of skill acquisition principles to children's learning of fundamental movement skills. He subsequently taught at the University of Chichester, England, where he was programme coordinator for the BSc Sport Science and Coaching, before returning to Ireland. A Fellow of the Higher Education Authority, Phil is passionate about skill acquisition, and inspiring the next generation of sport scientists and coaches to apply the core principles of skill acquisition in the development of athletes. Phil is also co-founder of Movement and Skill Acquisition Ireland. Phil and I speak about what skill is and how it can be developed through session design and coach behaviour.
I am delighted to speak with Dr Ellie Gennings in this episode. Ellie is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching based in the Department of Sport and Event Management at Bournemouth University. Ellie is interested in children's wellbeing, children's rights and safe sport. Ellie completed her PhD in 2022 in which she measured children's wellbeing developing a wellbeing scale. In this episode we discuss a fantastic paper Ellie led on entitled "A critical examination of children's well-being and well-becoming in a professional youth football academy".
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Peter Schneider in this week's episode. Peter is an expert in high performance environments and transitions. He was most recently the mental performance coach at RB Leipzig helping them to win 2 DFB Cups and 1 Supercup. Peter's focus is to help create talent development environments in which athletes, coaches, and parents are provided with the necessary information that leads to success at the professional level. Peter's area of expertise includes talent-development environments, transition into professional sport, group processes, coach-athlete relationships, and mindfulness in soccer. In this episode Peter and I discuss a range of psychological topics and Peter shares his experiences working with RB Leipzig in the German Bundesliga.
I'm joined by Jeremy Holt in this episode. Jeremy is an author, leadership team coach, trainer and mentor with three and a half decades of experience applying psychology to real-world teams in business, sport, and public service. Jeremy's work with teams focuses on identity - the glue that binds people together and drives performance. As a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, Jeremy supports leadership teams and boards to create shared identity, clarity and cohesion, so that accountability flows naturally and performance becomes sustainable. Whether in the boardroom or on the training ground, Jeremy helps leaders build teams that are not just effective, but proud of who they are together. We speak about Jeremy's new book "For the Love of the Game: How to coach identity, belonging and performance in sport". The book has been written for grassroots and youth sport coaches who care about the people in the shirts as much as the results on the scoreboard. Drawing on years of experience and grounded in social identity research, Jeremy introduces the TRIBE protocol– a practical and powerful method for building a team identity that fuels belonging, commitment and high performance.
I am delighted to welcome back high-performance coach Dr Ian Peek in this episode. Ian works with clients to improve performance and well-being, helping them achieve their goals whether that's transitioning to a new level of achievement or maintaining their position at the top of their sport or industry. Ian is a PGA Master Professional - the highest educational level in The PGA - which recognises PGA Members who make a significant effort to improve themselves as golf professionals and maintain the highest degree of excellence for themselves and their operations. In this episode Ian shares his 35+ years' experience as a high-performance coach working with clients with both performance and well-being in mind.
I'm delighted to speak with Ray Power in this episode. Ray is a coach developer and best-selling author of 10 soccer coaching books. He is also the Technical Director of the largest football academy in South Asia. Ray has coached at every level of football, from youth at risk to elite youth internationals. He achieved his UEFA A Licence in 2012 and has worked in youth football development all over the world since, including with the FA, Sunderland AFC and Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP), the national sports institute of Bangladesh. Ray's series of soccer coaching books combine to make him the best-selling football coaching author globally. Ray works with every level of coach through Ray Power Coach Education, offering webinars, 1:1 mentoring and football curriculum development.
I'm delighted to speak with Prof Mike Wilson in this episode. Mike has over 16 years of dedicated expertise in the mental health field. Serving as both a professor and mental performance coach, Mike has collaborated with international governments, leading international bodies like the United Nations and the World Bank, law enforcement agencies, and a diverse range of global sports organisations. Their impactful work includes championing mental health as a human right, providing psychological capacity building for refugees and lower-income communities, facilitating essential support through hygiene distributions for marginalised groups, engaging in post-war peace-building via sports initiatives, and advancing community development through potable water projects. Mike shares his knowledge and experiences as a sport psychologist touching on areas such as growth mindset, challenge and threat states, resilience and explanatory styles.
I'm delighted to speak with Ben Franks in this episode. Ben is a people developer and Senior Lecturer in Applied Coaching Sciences at Oxford Brookes University. Ben has been at Oxford Brookes since 2021 after holding various teaching positions at The University Campus of Football Business and at Canterbury Christ Church University. Ben also consults and coaches at a variety of organisations. He is Head of Youth and Junior Football at Sevenoaks Town FC. His areas of expertise are Ecological Approaches to Perception, Action and Cognition, Non-Linear Pedagogy and Human Movement and Skill Development. Ben is currently undertaking a PhD.
I'm delighted to welcome back licensed clinical psychologist and sport psychologist, Dr Scott Goldman in this week's episode. Scott started out at the University of Arizona where was one of the first embedded sport psychologists in an athletic department. He has since served as a clinical and performance psychologist for the University of Michigan and Saint Louis' Athletic Departments. Scott also helped co-author the best practices for the NCAA and was part of their first mental health task force. Scott has worked as sport psychologist for the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions NFL teams and NBA teams Washington Wizards, and currently the Golden State Warriors. Scott is also the owner/developer of a test called the The Athletic Intelligence Quotient (AIQ) which measures intelligence that is most relevant to athletic performance. The test is used across all 5 major leagues in the US as well as in other countries around the world. Scott is heavily involved in the NFL Scouting Combine and we speak about the psychology involved in the selection process.
I'm delighted to speak with Dave Bright and Dr Oliver Runswick in this episode. Dave is a coach and Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching at Chichester University. His main research interests are in motor learning and its application to practical sport coaching. Dave has coached martial arts for 25+ years. And it was from his experiences in coaching that led him to do a Sport Science Coaching degree, then a Sport & Exercise Psychology Masters degree. Dave's current role requires him to develop undergraduate students as sport coaches, providing them with an awareness and understanding of the underpinning motor learning and coaching research. Dave is undertaking a PhD investigating the effects of cognitive load and autonomous task selection in motor learning. Ollie is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London. His research focuses on understanding and enhancing learning and performance in domains including sport, dance, education, and the military. Ollie is the Editor in Chief of Perceptual and Motor Learning Skills at Sage Publishing and a Human Performance Technology Consultant providing consultancy in virtual reality applications, skill acquisition and motor learning, perceptual-cognitive skill, training/practice design, talent ID and development, vision in performance and performance systems. Ollie received a first-class BSc in Sport and Exercise Science from Swansea University, MSc in Human Movement Science from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, PGCHE from St Mary's University, and PhD from Liverpool Hope University where he studied perceptual-motor skills based with St Mary's University's Expertise and Skill Acquisition Research Group. Dave, Ollie and I discuss a paper they co-wrote along with Dr Jenny Smith, Dr Philip Kearney which compares two learning conditions - task-related autonomy and cognitive effort. Research has shown that both feelings of autonomy (as supported by OPTIMAL theory) and cognitive effort (as supported by Challenge Point) can positively impact skill development. This research paper aimed to compare these two approaches to learning. Results showed no differences between the effects of autonomy and cognitive effort, but uncovered participants use of tactical learning to improve. We unpack the paper and discuss its real-world application for coaching settings.
I'm delighted to welcome back coach and coach developer, Dr Jamie Taylor in this episode. Jamie's interests lie in performance enhancement in sport, specifically in coaching, coach development, high performance and talent development. Jamie is Assistant Professor in Elite Performance at Dublin City University and a senior coach developer at Grey Matters, a company specialising in performance enhancement and coaching development for individuals, sporting/cultural organisations and systems. In this episode, Jamie and I discuss his new book, co-edited with Prof Dave Collins, entitled 'Sport Skill Acquisition: Integrating Theory and Practice'. The book carefully and critically considers the expanding knowledge of skill acquisition and motor control, with a focus on application, examining three major theoretical perspectives that dominate the field: cognitive, ecological dynamics, and predictive processing. Jamie and Prof Dave Collins use their combined wisdom as coaches, coach developers, and expert sport psychology practitioners to offer practical advice on blending theoretical approaches, using examples from a variety of sports and activities. For those looking to improve their work with performers, Sport Skill Acquisition provides a road map for choosing the best approach for each unique situation to develop skills for optimal sport performance.
In this episode I welcome back Prof Stephen Harvey and Dr Ed Cope to the show. Stephen is Professor in Sport Pedagogy at Ohio University. His research is focused on teacher/coach pedagogy and practice and its influence on student/player learning. Stephen is the Coach Educator Developer at US Soccer Federation and the Head Coach at Ohio Soccer Club. Ed has been a lecturer in Sport Coaching for over a decade and is currently based at the prestigious Loughborough University. Ed has also worked in football, holding the role of Learning Design and Development Manager at the English Football Association where he was responsible for the design and development of their education courses.
I'm delighted to welcome back Dr Josie Perry in this week's episode. Josie is a chartered sport psychologist, working mainly 1-1 with athletes – from novice athletes just starting out through to world champions. She teaches athletes the skills they need to overcome barriers to success and ensures they feel more comfortable and confident when they compete. Josie is also an author, writing features for magazines including cycling weekly. In this episode we discuss her latest book "ADHD in Sport: Strategies for Success". The book illuminates the ADHD brain in sporting environments, looks at the benefits of exercise on ADHD, the impact of ADHD traits on sporting performance, has chapters full of tools to help wellbeing, training and competition, information on cooccurring conditions and ADHD medication in sport and concludes with chapters for coaches, parents and partners.
I'm delighted to speak with Jason Dorland this week. Jason is a former Olympic, Commonwealth Games and World Championship rower and rowing coach. After his competitive career, Jason went on to enter the teaching profession, where he taught and coached high school for fifteen years. In ten years of coaching rowing, Jason's crews earned 12 international championship titles. Jason now works with his wife, former Olympic, Commonwealth Games and World Championship middle and long-distance runner, Robyn Meagher. Their business, Your Mindset Coaching and Consulting, offers workshops, keynotes, and coaching to teams looking to better equip themselves to be their best selves and perform at their highest possible potential for longer. Jason and I speak about his experiences as an Olympic athlete, what he learned from his competitive career, and how this shaped his coaching and consultancy practice.
I'm delighted to speak to Dr Alex Auerbach in this week's episode. Alex is a performance psychologist working with the best athletes in the world in the NBA, NFL, MLB, and Olympians, as well as high-performers in other domains like elite military units, Fortune 5 companies, and venture-backed start-ups. Alex was formerly Director of Wellness and Development for the Toronto Raptors, where he was responsible for all things mental health, mental performance and off-court development for players and staff. Alex has worked with NCAA Division-I schools in the Pac-12, ACC, Big 12, and Conference USA, where his work has included serving as the performance consultant for a Conference USA bowl-winning football team, ACC championship team, and student-athletes who continued in professional sport and/or the Olympic games. He earned his doctoral degree in counselling psychology with a specialisation in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of North Texas. Alex and I discuss his brilliant new book "Called to Greatness: Your Personal Playbook for the Pursuit of Excellence".
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Matthew Andrew this week. Matthew is a senior lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University. He previously lectured at Liverpool John Moores University in Expert Performance and Learning. Matthew is interested in skill acquisition and talent identification and development. In this episode Matthew and I discuss a study he led which examined talent development in female soccer. The study examined developmental activities engaged in by professional female soccer players in England.
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Hillary Cauthen this week. Hillary is a clinical sport psychologist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) with over 17 years experience working within the field of sport and performance psychology. She is an active member in her local community and professional associations, such as Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), and American Psychological Association - Division 47 (Society for Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology). Hillary is the Founder and Director of Texas Optimal Performance & Psychological Services (TOPPS) - working with individuals, families, teams, and groups to improve mental health, as well as athletic, social, academic, and professional performance. Hillary formerly served as the Director of Organizational Wellness & Performance for Austin FC and was the performance psychologist for the San Antonio Spurs, where she developed their mental performance and wellness programs. Hillary has developed private businesses that bring mental wellness curriculum to school districts across the nation, as well as an analytics company that helps predict the behavioural risk factors in players for teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and Premier League. Her work in high performance is breaking down stigma across communities which is highlighted in her book "Hello Trauma, Our Invisible Teammate."
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Sebastian Harenberg this week. Sebastian is Associate Professor in Sport Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC). He also provides mental performance consulting services to athletes and community members. Sebastian and I discuss positional competition, i.e. the competition for playing time in team sports. Sebastian completed a combined Bachelor and Master of Education in English and Physical Education at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Sebastian continued his education with a doctoral degree in Kinesiology and Health studies with an emphasis on sport psychology at the University of Regina. He then worked 2 years as a research scientist at the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region until he joined Ithaca College in New York as an Assistant Professor for Research Methods and Statistics. Sebastian's main research interests lie in two areas: 1. Group Dynamics – his research examines processes that affect team hierarchies (competition within teams, selection, deselection), and 2. Perceptual Cognitive Training – using technology, he examines different technologies to sharpen the cognitive skills of athletes and various other populations.
I'm delighted to speak to Dr Caz Nahman and Dr Andrew Kirkland in this week's episode. We discuss the role of language and the environment when considering mental health in sport. Caz is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. Caz has also completed additional training in sport psychiatry with the ISSP (International Society for Sport Psychiatry) and is currently Deputy Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatry Sports and Exercise Psychiatry Special Interest Group. Caz has experience working within a general child and adolescent setting as well as working in in-patient and community eating disorders services. She has previously been an elected member of the RCPsych Eating Disorders Faculty and in this role co-edited a book - New to Eating Disorders - designed as a training tool for staff new to working within this field. Caz's interests include compulsive overexercise; youth sport; eating disorders in athletes, autism spectrum disorders in athletes, life-style psychiatry and medical education. In addition, she is keen to improve standards of care for athletes with mental health problems. Andrew is a Lecturer in Sports Coaching at the University of Stirling. He is also a member of the General University Ethics Panel, a Chartered Scientist and a BASES Accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist (support & pedagogy). Andrew has worked as a sport physiologist and coach developer at British Cycling and supports others in developing performance environments. Andrew's research philosophy is driven by impact and translation of research into practice. Specifically, he uses Implementation and Behavioural Change Science to explore mental health in sport, 'merging' his practical experience with evidence-based practice with the aim of helping others to develop more effective sporting systems.
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Sam Thrower and Prof Chris Harwood this week. We discuss parent education and support strategies in youth sport. Sam is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Oxford Brookes University. His main research interests lie in the area of youth sport and specifically the psychosocial development of young athletes. He is particularly interested in topics such as parenting in sport, sport-confidence, motivational climates and stress and coping. Sam's research in these areas has been published in a range of leading international journals including: 'Psychology of Sport & Exercise', 'Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise & Health', 'Sport, Exercise & Performance Psychology', 'Journal of Applied Sport Psychology' and 'Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology'. His current research focuses on parent-child interactions and the development, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based sport parent education programmes. Chris is the Director of the Sport, Health and Performance Enhancement (SHAPE) Research Centre at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). He is a Professor of Sport Psychology at NTU where his research focuses on the psychosocial aspects of athlete development, wellbeing and performance including the roles of the coach, parents, and the wider social and organisational environment. Chris is particularly focused on the integration of psychological principles into youth sport settings and his applied research is characterised by working with the support system around young people. Chris is also prominent in the area of professional development, supervision and training of sport psychologists in the UK and international systems.
I'm delighted to speak with Rusty Earnshaw and Danny Newcombe on this week's episode. Rusty is a coach and former professional rugby union player. Rusty has played Premiership rugby with West Hartlepool, Bath Rugby and Rotherham Titans, winning the European Cup whilst at Bath. In 2000 he was selected to play for the Barbarians. And he also represented England on the IRB Sevens circuit. Since his playing days he has held various positions at the Rugby Football Union, including International Performance Coach. He is now Director at The Magic Academy, which works across sport and business supporting the development of individuals and teams. Danny is a coach and coach developer. He is currently Senior Coach Development Manager at The Premier League. Until recently, he was a Senior Lecturer in Sport, Coaching and PE in the department of Sport, Health Sciences and Social Work at Oxford Brookes University, UK. He now holds a visiting research fellow post at Oxford Brookes. Danny is also an international and domestic national league hockey coach. He is currently the head coach of the Men's Welsh National Team and works extensively with a number of partners in the coach development space. I speak with Rusty and Danny about their considerable coaching experiences and we break down some of the skills they use in their own coaching practices.
I'm delighted to speak with Johnny Gorman this week. Johnny is a trainee clinical psychologist and former professional footballer. We speak about the experiences of footballers who were released from clubs at a young age and the impact this had on them, a topic Johnny has recently published a paper on entitled "Inside the football factory: young players' reflections on being 'released'". There is considerable research on senior players' mental health outcomes following retirement. However, less attention has been paid to the greater numbers of young players who are deselected each year. Growing research attests to their increased risk of psychological distress including anxiety and depression. Every year, most young football players experience deselection and for some, this has profound consequences including drug addiction and even death. Yet little is known about these young hopefuls whose careers are abruptly cut short and who are released into a world they are ill-prepared for. This study brings a social psychological lens to examine how social identity processes underpin these consequences. The paper's findings contribute to calls for deeper consideration and action around football club culture, and clubs' responsibility to player welfare, including when players are released.
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Thomas Simpson this week. Thomas is a lecturer in Motor Learning and Skill Acquisition at Edge Hill University. He is interested in how motor learning and motor skill acquisition in children can be optimised through attentional and motivational factors. Thomas obtained his BSc in Sport and Exercise Science and his PhD at Edge Hill University. In this episode we discuss a paper Thomas co-wrote which examined the use of OPTIMAL Instructions and Feedback in Physical Education Settings. Here, OPTIMAL stands for Optimizing Performance through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning. It is a theory of motor learning developed by Gabriele Wulf and Rebecca Lewthwaite. The paper investigates how PE teachers can use instruction and feedback which promote OPTIMAL theory motor learning factors (e.g., an external focus of attention, enhanced expectancies and autonomy support) to enhance children's motor learning.
I'm delighted to speak with Dr Scott McLean this week. Scott is a Senior Research Fellow and the theme leader for Sport and Outdoor Recreation at the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems (CHFSTS) at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Scott has a background in Exercise Science (MSc, BExSc) and obtained his PhD applying Human Factors and Ergonomics methods in sport, in which he received the David Ferguson Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia for the best PhD thesis. His research spans a broad range of domains including sport science, safety science, and systems thinking. During his PhD and current Post-Doctoral research, Scott has made a number of significant research contributions which have advanced knowledge in the areas of team performance analysis, coaching, sports system modelling, applying Human Factors and Ergonomics in sport, incident reporting systems in outdoor recreation, and complex system modelling of the road safety system. Scott has experience working with and conducting research with industry i.e. professional sporting clubs and an international football team, government agencies, as well as international collaborators. Scott is also a successful and award-winning football coach, which ensures that his research has a focus on delivering practice implications.
In this episode I speak with Bernadette Kellermann. Bernadette is a Sport Psychologist and PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh. Bernadette researches the Multi-Action Plan (MAP) Model and transitions between mental states in performance. The MAP Model is an action-focused, sport-specific intervention model that can be utilised to investigate and improve human performance. We discuss two fascinating papers Bernadette has written about transitions between mental states within MAP along with Prof Dave Collins, Dr Alan MacPherson, and Dr Maurizio Bertollo. In addition to her performance psychology studies, Bernadette is a violinist, composer, and tutor having graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
