VJ Stanley is the founder and President of Balanced Excellence. VJ was a 3 sport varsity athlete. He then went on to play junior hockey for the Rochester Monarchs and pursued his passion at Clarkson University. Unfortunately, he sustained two concussions in one week which ended his career after only one game. After the injury, at age 23, he became a high school coach at Fairport High School in Rochester, NY. He was the youngest high school hockey coach in Monroe County history. At Fairport, he set 13 records. VJ went on to become the head coach at the University of Rochester, coaching for 21 years. VJ founded Balanced Excellence as an answer to his family's and friends constant questions about the stress associated with their children's participation in youth sports. He became an author and public speaker with over 30 years of experience with youth and high school sports injury prevention, as well as providing leadership, insights and consulting for long-term athletic development. Mental health and the pure enjoyment of playing youth sports for fun are a huge part of Balanced Excellence. In this episode VJ discusses: His own athletic and coaching journey.  The difference between trust and respect. Why it's about the journey of helping others get better. Why Balanced Excellence is a microcosm of life. Why we should be giving kids equal playing time at the developmental level. Why no one knows how to win. Teaching children to own and value the journey. You can learn more about VJ's work by visiting www.balancedexcellence.com . As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our website, Instagram and Twitter.

David Dunne is a Performance Nutritionist with an array of experience working in elite sport with Harlequins, Queens Park Rangers FC, Bradford Bulls, British Fencing, British Canoeing and Professional Golfers. He is also the CEO of Hexis Performance and is currently completing a PhD in Digital Health and Behaviour Change.  In this episode David discusses: The numerous Consultant Nutritionist roles he's had to date. How the breadth of experiences has taught him to think better. How we are dealing with human beings, not numbers or athletes. The importance of building empathy and trust. The problem of motivation vs capability in behaviour change. Why more knowledge may not be the answer. His PhD Research combining social media and nutrition interventions. The development of the Hexis App to provide individualised nutrition support to athletes. You can learn more about David's work by visiting www.hexisapp.com or by following Hexis on Instagram: @hexis_performance and David on Twitter: @thenutrionisr . As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our website, Instagram and Twitter.

Dr Nico Kolokythas has over 15 years experience in the athletic development of the adolescent in elite performance in a variety of sports (Judo, Netball, Basketball, Football, Taekwondo, Tennis). He is also currently the strength and conditioning coach for professional martial artists in Mixed Martial Arts. Based at Elmhurst Ballet School, U.K. he completed a PhD in injuries and the adolescent ballet dancer and also works as a consultant for Birmingham Royal Ballet. As part of his studies, he led randomised controlled trials in injury prevention in dance and has now developed an injury prevention intervention called “11+Dance”. He is regular presenter at the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science conference and a regular writer/contributor for One Dance UK’s magazine. Since, 2014, Nico has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton, and recently became a visiting lecturer at Bern University. His focus in teaching is on coaching and training methods as well as Motor Learning & Control. In this episode Nico discusses: His interesting journey into coaching via a business degree and psychology degree. His initial perspective seeing weak bodies and injuries mount up in the ballet environment. The excessive workloads experienced in ballet from a young age. His initial mistake and overestimating the training capacity of young ballet dancers. How his first pilot study was a dramatic failure and let to him adapting his approach. The results of his research and the development of the 11+ Dance protocol. How mistakes have guided him to better decisions and better understanding. You can learn more about Niko's work by visiting www.strengthmotionmind.com or by following him on Instagram: @strengthmotionmind . As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our website, Instagram and Twitter.

Steffan Jones is the last dual professional sportsman in the United Kingdom having played 3 years professional rugby and 20 years professional cricket. Currently, he is Director of Sport Performance at a Wellington School in England and a global fast bowling consultant. He is the fast bowling development coach for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL as well as consulting for individual fast bowlers, javelin throwers and pitchers around the world. Steffan is in a unique position having played the sport, is a qualified sports scientist, a UKSCA qualified strength and conditioning coach and also as a level 3 qualified technical coach.  In this episode Steffan discusses:  His schoolboy rugby career representing Wales.  Why he choose Somerset Cricket over Bristol Rugby.  Why schools need to separate PE from Sport.  Creating a PE curriculum that caters for the 99.5% not the 0.5%  The differences between an elite program and being elitist.  The attractors of fast bowling performance.  His dream of a fast bowling performance centre in the UK.  You can learn more about Steffan's work by visiting www.pacelab.co.uk or by following him on Instagram: @steffanjones105 .  As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our website, Instagram and Twitter.

Jan Willem Teunissen has B. in PE and a MSc. in talent development & exercise physiology from VU University Amsterdam. In the past he worked for elite soccer club Ajax Amsterdam and implemented an all-round development program and maturity related individual training program within the youth academy. Furthermore, Jan Willem was head of the performance staff at elite soccer club FC Twente. Currently he is working at two educational institutes; HAN-University and Ghent University. In this episode Jan Willem discusses:  His own experience of burnout in Tennis and injury in the Marines. His experiences at Ajax and FC Twente. The tension between theoretical models and real world application. His research on the unique profiles of different sports. Applying alternative exercises to the profile of football. How mastering a variety of skills leads to greater opportunities in competition. Similarities and differences between different sports. The implications for talent development and talent transfer. You can visit the video resource Jan Willem mentions here at www.sportsinspirator.com and follow his work via his Research Gate profile and his LinkedIn page. As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our website, Instagram and Twitter.

Tom Farrow is a Physical Performance Specialist and is the Founder & Co-Director of Areté Performance, He was the Head of Physical Performance for England & Team GB 7s Men’s teams Until August, when the programme was unfortunately cut due to losing funding during Coronavirus. Tom was also a Contact Skills Specialist with the Men’s 7s programme and has worked in this capacity with the 2016 Team GB Women’s 7s team, Tokyo Toshiba Brave, Fulham FC Academy and Richmond Rugby Club. He has previously worked as a strength and conditioning coach with the English Institute of Sport, GB Canoe, & Speedworks. Until Sept 2014, Tom was a Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach with Wasps Rugby and co-led their First XV programme. After starting his own business Tom also spent time working with the Wasps Academy programme as both a Strength & Conditioning Coach and Contact Skills Specialist. In this episode he covers: How the skill of coaching, mastery and potential drives him. How Bruce Lee was a big influence. Some unorthodox coaching influences. "Developing heroes". Chaos and order and antifragility in coaching. Learning from great coaches. You can keep up to date with Tom's work via the Areté Performance Instagram: @areteperform_hq  or via their website www.arete-performance.com . As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our website, Instagram and Twitter.

Andy is an Athletic Development and Physical Well-being coach at Merchant Taylors' school and leads the UKSCA Special interest group for Strength and conditioning in schools. Steven studied maths at oxford and computer science at UCL and has a background coaching and competing in long-distance triathlon. After many races, and many hours of talking (mainly nonsense), eventually they came up with an idea, and that idea was Statera. Through his work as a Strength and Conditioning coach, Andy often remarked on  how difficult it was to accurately track the training of the youth and team athletes he was working with. He thought how great it would be to get all the information he needed on his athletes, all in one place, in a time efficient way. As luck would have it, through a blend of personal interests and software development skills, Steven had spent considerable time developing his own training diary. So, after some more talking, and a few more races, Steven began to develop a web application to solve Andy’s puzzle. And so Statera was born.  In this episode, Andy discusses:  Why there's a need to manage workload in youth athletes.  The challenges of managing youth athletes who are involved in multiple activities.  Why he didn't just use one of systems designed for senior professional sport.  Why Statera was created to solve his problem and how it can help other coaches.  The features and functionality of Statera for coaches and parents. How you can get involved in helping Statera innovate and improve.  You can keep up to date with Andy & Steven's work with Statera via their Facebook page Statera TSB , Twitter: @StateraTSB and their website www.statera.uk .  As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our website, Instagram and Twitter.

Lana Skeldon is a current International Rugby Player recently earning her 40th Cap for Scotland against France in the Women’s Six Nations.    In this episode Lana discusses:  Overcoming limited opportunities locally to play rugby. The psychological challenge of changing position. Being inspired by coaches and fellow players.  Her take on training with "the boys". Balancing work/study with being a full time rugby players. How getting her first contract allowed for drastic changes in her day to day schedule. You can keep up to date with Lana via her Instagram: @skelpers6 as well as her Twitter: @skeldonlana.   As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our website, Instagram and Twitter.

Ben Pullen is a PhD student in the Youth Physical Development Centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University. His research focuses on the impact of strength and conditioning on the athletic motor skill competencies and the psychological attributes of youths. His PhD is a joint project with the Welsh Institute of Performance Science, Sport Wales and Swansea University. In this episode Ben discusses: Taking performance out of the athletic development equation. How S&C can be an activity that benefits children in a way sport doesn't The misconception that talented youth athletes already possess movement competency. An overview of his PhD research investigating the effect of S&C on both physical and psychological factors. Understanding the constraints led approach to coaching. The grey area of competition in children and how to manage it to get desired coaching outcomes. You can keep up with Ben's work via his Research Gate profile, Twitter: @Ben_Pullen and Instagram: @bpullen_coach . As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our Website, Facebook and Instagram.

Trevor Ragan is the founder of The Learner Lab - an educational website designed to unpack and share the science of learning and development. He spends his time with thought leaders and researchers from the worlds of psychology and developmental science, consumes their research, connects the dots, and shares it with anyone that will listen. He's worked with professional, college, and olympic sports teams, Fortune 500 companies, prisons, and in hundreds of schools across the country. These workshops are designed to help people understand and apply important principles of development, in order to become better, more resilient learners.  In this episode Trevor discusses:  The pain of missing out on a basketball spot at Duke University fuelling hunger to learn about learning!  How research gets misinterpreted and misdirected in practice.  How we often practice in the zoo but compete in the jungle.  Why research is crystal clear that we can all improve.  What we can learn from stand up comedy.  Running small "experiments" in our practice and training of athletes.  You can keep up to date with Trevor's work via www.learnerlab.com .  As always you can keep up to date with Athletic Evolution via our Website, Facebook and Instagram.