The Sports Initiative Podcast

Iain Brunnschweiler is the Coach and Player Development Manager at Southampton FC. In this role he aims to support players and coaches in their professional development and preparing them for the riggers for full time academy and first team football. Prior to this he had also worked for UK Coaching, England Cricket and Hampshire Cricket. Formally a professional cricketer with Hampshire, Iain has played and worked alongside some of the worlds greatest circketers such as Shane Warne and Kevin Piertersen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Hartley is a performance coach developer at UK coaching. In this role he aims to challenge and support coaches from a wide range of sports focusing on improving their planning, delivery and evaluation. Alongside this role he also works as assistant coach at Oxford Women's FC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Harmon is an academy coach at Red Bull New York. He works with both the U12's and U14's age groups and aims to implement the high octane Red Bull transitional play. Prior to this, he coached at Barcelona in Arizona as well as playing/trialling at a variety of US and European clubs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rhys Denton is a Youth development phase coach at Reading FC. He is also an Academy Manager at Hungerford Town as well as running his own business Perform 23 which runs a host of football camps which players from all different football academies attend. Rhys also recently received the Ugo Ehiogu 'ones to watch' from Football Black List. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Phil Kearney is lecturer of sport and exercise sciences at the University of Limerick. Specialising in the field of skill acquisition, Phil has an in depth theoretical and practical knowledge as to how skills are learnt in a youth development context. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Rob Bell is a coach, podcaster and author on mental toughness. He works with college and professional athletes trying to help them prepare and address psychological challenges in their athletic career. He has also written 7 books including 'puke and rally' and 'the hinge' which provides readers with practical insights into the world of mental toughness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nick Gearing is a PHD student looking into the practice design at the top producing academies across Europe. In this, he has focused on the use of isolated practice and how this has challenged the narrative around SSG and constraint led coaching. A coaching and analyst in his own right, Nick has worked at Premiership side Brentford and London based Leyton Orient. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Barry is the soon to be assistant Head of Coaching at Crystal Palace. During a 25 year long coaching journey, Paul has worked at some of the most prominent clubs in the London area including Watford, Southend and Arsenal. He is also a content creator for the online platform Football DNA. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Hudson is a Youth Development Phase coach at Premier League Cat 1 academy, Aston Villa. Formally of Derby County and the University of South Wales, Sam also works for the Coaches Voice where he plays an integral role in content creation for the platform. He has also recently become an author with his book, 'Football in a pandemic' which is available now on amazon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rich Hudson is the Managing Director at Buckinghamshire Cricket Club. Holding a Msc in Sport psychology and ECB level 4 qualification, Rich helps develop programmes to develop young players holistic skills and hopefully gain a foothold in the academy county cricket pathway. He is also a published author with his book 'perform beyond pressure' now available on amazon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.