The Talent Equation Podcast

Alex Sarama is the Director and Head Coach at the 'College Prep' Basketball Academy in Borgomanero in norther Italy. The College Prep website states:"College Prep exists to help young men between 16 to 20 years old fulfil their complete potential in basketball and life. College Prep is a complete academy program for players wishing to pursue collegiate and professional basketball opportunities. The program at College consists of basketball, mindfulness, athletic performance, education and life skills. At College Prep, players work with coaches who are extremely passionate and curious about their learning, with the program embracing all the latest research and evidence before our experiments are shared with the basketball world!". Alex is a committed Eco-Dynamicist and has taken the philosophy and ideas to new levels by embedding them throughout the whole programme at the academy. It is a case study in how powerful ecological dynamics can be in shaping a talent development and learning environment. It is an absolutely staggering project and the story that Alex tells is fascinating. I hope you love this as much as I did.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

I caught up with Trine Falnes - CEO of Spond at the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadephia and we 'got to talking'. I pressed record on my podcast gear and we explored how her company's coaching app 'Spond' has transformed my life as a coach by making it so much easier to manage all of the teams that I coach and also supported with the running of the club. We also discuss how the app is reducing coach drop out and has enabled me to ensure that I keep the voices of the young people I coach at the forefront of my coaching practice.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

On my travels across the United States I made the trip to see John O'Sullivan from Changing the Game Project and the Way of Champions Podcast. We had a great time and decided to record a podcast to talk about some of the things that we had discussed while I was there. In this podcast we discuss the application of skill in varied environments (including my limited ability at powder skiiing!) We also explore the challenges that coaches face in an increasingly hostile world where parents and other stakeholders seem only to eager to challenge coaches for any perceived slight on their child. What can coaches do about this, how can they protect themselves and what measures can they put in place to prevent or manage a landscape with increasingly high expectations.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

I caught up with Julian after my presentation at the United Soccer Coaches Convention and we reflected on some of the questions that were raised by the audience.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Chris Cushion is Professor of Coaching & Pedagogy at Loughborough University as well as the Head of Coaching at England Netball. Chris is one of the most well known researchers in the world of sports coaching and has published widely. I asked Chris to join me to disuss the nature of 'direct instruction' which he argues has some to mean something in coaching that is not an accurate way to depict it. Chris and I have disagreed in the past about this subject so we thought it was hight time we got together and had a proper discussion about this area. Needless to say, we didn't stop there...we also discussed...How poor coach education is as a means to effectively support coaches and develop thier skillsWhy coach development is so under valuedWhy technique led coaching is still so prevalentWhy the 'toolbox metaphor' limits coaching effectivenessIt was a really interesting and valuable conversation. Hope you enjoyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

In this dog walk diary I think aloud about work I am doing at the moment to support a reconceptualisation of coaching for children by evoking the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Leanne Norman is a Professor of Sport and Sociocultural Studies and Director of the Research Centre for Social Justice in Sport and Society at Leeds Beckett University. Her research utilises a critical sociological lens to examine sport organisational and coaching cultures to address gender equity and diversity within sport coaching workforces.Ellen Jones is a lecturer and the academic lead for all tennis performance modules and the Performance Director of Tennis at Cardiff Metropolitan University.They join me to discuss a paper that they had written that explained some of the challenges faced my both male and female coaches who had experienced mental health issues and burnout linked to the dominant 'performance narrative' that has become so prevalent across sport. Here is a link to the paper - https://t.co/Kl6I4mNq7ZI hope you enjoyStuartBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

After a monster twitter discussion about the relative value of 'two touch' as a constraint I invited some of the protagonists to join me for a live streamed discussion where we could circle around the problem in a more conducive situation than the limits of Twitter. It's a proper CLA geek out but I think we made some good progress and shared some good ideas. Hope you get some new insights from itBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Callum Murray has worked in youth football for the last five years with some of the most talented and respected players of their age in the country, including working in men’s first-team recruitment for a professional club. With a background in sport psychology and a deep interest in football and talent development, he has researched football- talent hotbeds in England exhaustively, speaking to experts and some of the most influential people in this field. 'Something in the Water' uncovers the secrets of the football-talent hotbeds of English football: past, present and future. It takes a look behind the scenes of the traditional working-class northern town hotbeds and the emergence of south London as the new-school hotbed, to explore the key characteristics that helped to develop players such as Sancho, Zaha, Gerrard and others.Hope you enjoyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

This is a bit of a different episode, it is the recording from my 'Twitter Spaces' conversation organised by Philip O'Callaghan to explore 'Representative Learning Design'. The chat features a range of people who have all featured on the podcast in the past, Alex Lascu, Marianne Davies, Cal Jones and Mark O'Sullivan. It's an interesting conversation that wanders all over the map of Representative Learning Design and also gets into coach education (because Mark tries to get me into trouble by baiting me into saying something about it - and I can't resist!)I hope you enjoyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation