The Athlete Development Show

Ben Pullen - Using Strength-Based Activities to Empower ChildrenBen Pullen (bpullen_coach) is a PhD student in Paediatric Strength and Conditioning in the Youth Physical Development Centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University. His research investigates the effect of Strength and Conditioning in Physical Education on the athletic motor skill competencies and psychological constructs of school children.Check out his latest peer-reviewed paper here.Ben also owns a private training facility in the UK where he uses strength-based activities to empower children. Kia ora!If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps me keep producing the show. I also love hearing your feedback!Sign up for Craig's free weekly newsletter here. It's full of research-backed, practical ideas for helping youth athletes defend against injury, overtraining and burning out. Follow Craig:Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrisonTwitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrisonSupport the show

My kōrero today is with Mike Schofield (@rotationalperf).  Mike grew up on a farm in Castlepoint, half an hour out of Masterton on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. He was raised by working-class parents who held fairly typical rural beliefs - you know, be courteous, respect your elders, work hard.  Mike loved sport and spent his formative years playing golf. And a lot of it. By his late-teens Mike was good. But, in the words of his then coach, he was told: "you're too small and will never hit the ball far enough to be elite."    This is the story of how those comments changed Mike and dramatically shaped the way he has conducted his life ever since. Mike tells of how he started to look for answers in places that he'd never thought to look before. He talks about his journey into weightlifting, sport science and postgraduate research. But most importantly, Mike tells of how being told what to do as a young athlete created a disdain for old-school learning pedagogies now as an adult.Mike is a coach for HPSNZ. The people he works with like to throw things really fast, and really far. His job, as he describes it, is to help them stay true to who they are. As an athlete. And as a human. Please enjoy the show. Kia ora!Support the show

"Locking back now, when I was younger I had an ability that my body couldn’t cope with. I had the ability to express a lot of force and speed and I was physically not able to cope with it. Also, technically I wasn’t that great when I was younger."    - Chris DonaldsonThis is a story of the relentless pursuit of excellence.It's also about empathy, and why in sport, you don't get anywhere without it.I met Chris Donaldson on the red rubber of the Caledonian, Dunedin’s athletic track, in 2000. He had what all of us in the training group so desperately wanted. Speed. And plenty of it.But more than that, he was the ultimate professional. On a perpetual search for the “the ultimate race, when everything comes together and produces something magical”, finding his best meant everything to Chris. It was inspiring.I also enjoyed his humour. Chris never took himself too seriously, which from what I learnt, helps to offset the rigorous demands of professional sport.Chris made his name on the track and represented his country at two Olympic Games. In 1998, he ran 10.17 seconds over 100 m in Kuala Lumpur – the second-fastest time in NZ history.He is also an optimist. As he explains in our chat, every race was a chance at success. Rarely thinking about the consequence of loss, Chris lit up every time he got to compete – especially against the best in the world.This is a conversation about how his positivity came to be. It’s about going all-in on a passion, what it really takes to pursue your best, and the empathy needed from your support network along the way.But it’s also a conversation about change.Just before the 200 Olympic Games commenced, Chris went down with an Achilles tendon injury that, despite being in the best shape of his life, ended his sprinting career and stopped him short of realising his dreams.And so out of nowhere, the hard road out of sport began. Chris talks openly about where he looked, and what he found.Chris oozes energy - you can hear it in his voice. This is a great conversation with a man who gives his all to what he loves.Kia ora!CraigSupport the show

Today's conversation is something different. In episode 75 of the show, I spoke with Austin Einhorn, founder of Apiros, a movement culture out of Santa Cruz in California. Austin works with a range of youth and professional athletes within the US and around the world. In that conversation, we dug into designing training environment for better movement outcomes, the future of sport and performance training, his forthcoming book (which is not far away) and much more. Since then, Austin and I have developed a close friendship and now regularly talk about our work and life in general. He's one of the guys I go to with the questions I'm struggling withAnd so we thought we'd see how it goes sharing some of our conversations with you.We're calling it the "Curious Mind."First up we dig into cultivating curiosity, social media, the law of entropy, skill versus fitness, Austin's vision for his life's work, coaching the squat, influencing change, and much more. Kia ora!Support the show

Nothing beats time spent practising to develop a skill. Getting better requires doing the work. But practice doesn't go the distance unless it's self-motivated.Inner drive is crucial to realising potential - I've seen it play out countless times in aspiring athletes.And there's no better example than David Gerrard - a man who swam for NZ at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.Growing up, David would strap his togs to the handlebars, throw his towel around his neck and bike his way the few blocks to the Mt Eden pool. His mum and dad never woke him up at 5 am to get him to the pool. He knew what he had to do to get better. And if he wasn't prepared to it, that was his problem.David's internal drive to get better not only served him well in his athletics but in a long and illustrious career in medicine.David worked a the University of Otago for 35 years and became a Professor in 2014. He retired two years later and was granted the title of Emeritus Professor.He has also held a number of highly distinguished sport administration roles including Chef de Mission at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games and 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Medical Commissioner to eight Summer Olympic Games, Chairman of Drug Free Sport NZ, a member of World Rugby’s Anti Doping Advisory Committee, Chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee and President of Swimming NZ.In 2007, David was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.Today he shares his inspirational story, dropping pearls of wisdom along the way.This is a conversation about the type of motivation that breeds success, and where it comes from.It's also a conversation about fairness in sport. And in life. Inspired early in life by Ludwig Gutmann - founder of the Paralympic Games - David learnt the importance of equitable environments. His life's work in sports medicine and the use of therapeutic drugs to level the playing field in sport is clear evidence of that.But more than anything else, this is a conversation about values. Raised by working-class parents in the 1950s, David grew up learning the importance of knowing where you come from and the power of unconditional familial support.David is a thoughtful and kind man and I love this conversation.To read more and listen click here. Craig -Support the show

"One of the most awkward parts of my sessions is when I say to parents, I’d like you just to turn to one another and practice what you’re going to say to your kids when you get the email saying they’re dropped... because parents don’t want to think about that moment."This conversation is with Richard Shorter (@nonperfectdad), a conversation architect and non-perfect dad. Richard works with various sports across the UK in professional academy systems, national sporting organisations and schools to help coaches, parents and athletes work more effectively together.Richard has honours degrees in community and youth studies and theology and has worked with youth in various roles for churches and government agencies.In this conversation, Richard and I discuss the importance of setting clear family values, building self-awareness, the benefits of investing in yourself for your kids, the importance of good mentorship, and much more.We also discuss:The best questions to ask your kids to support their sporting journey;Why learning to control your own emotions on the sideline is crucial and how to do it;Why kids need rhythms and routines in life to escape pressure;Letting your child set the agenda for conversations;The 'adultification' of youth sport;Why Richard thinks living vicariously through your kids is a myth;The risk of trying too hard to shape your child’s character;The need to be more patience with development;The benefits of practising important parenting conversations before you have them;Nature versus nurture in character development;Why home should act as a harbour from an unrelenting sporting environment; andRichard’s top advice for every sports parent.Please enjoy!Support the show

Richard Cheetham (@twowheelprof) is a Senior Fellow in Sports Coaching at the University of Winchester. Before that, he spent three years teaching and coaching in New Zealand. Richard was awarded an MBE for his work in Community Education and Sport. He has a strong reputation for creative thinking and innovation within coach education and development and has spent time inside many sporting organisations including Saracens RFC Academy, Fulham Football Club, and more recently, British Triathlon. His research focuses on a holistic approach to coaching.Is this episode, Richard talks about the 3 years he spent in New Zealand, failure, projection, the art of effective communication, relinquishing the ego, writing pre-mortems, creating healthy partnerships with your athletes, and the challenges of teaching online. Please enjoy!Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast platform.Support the show

This conversation is with Anna Frost, a mum, a coach, a mentor and a professional mountain, trail and ultra runner, who has raced all over the world.Since starting out in 2004, Anna has assembled a long list of running achievements, including winning Hardrock, a 100-mile race across the Colorado mountains in the US, two years in a row.In this conversation, Annas shares her journey from growing up as a small-town girl in Dunedin, New Zealand, to being one of the best ultra-distance runners in the world.Please say hello to Anna on Instagram here.If you enjoy the show, please subscribe using your favourite podcast app. I’d also encourage you to head over to iTunes and give the show a rating as it helps to share the show with more people.Kia ora!Support the show

This conversation is with Dr Matt Whalan, a partner at Figtree Physiotherapy in the Wollongong area in Australia.You can find Matt on Twitter @figtreephysio.Matt also holds a number of practical roles, including Medical and High-performance Manager for the Wollongong Wolves FC and Physiotherapist for the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) National Teams Unit.Matt earned his PhD in 2020, focused on injury prevention in football, and holds a Masters in Physiotherapy.In this conversation, Matt and I discuss what he likes to call 'athlete availability'.Also:A different take on reducing injuries in youth sport;The importance of psychology when dealing with injury;Why Matt spends time framing roles and responsibilities within a team environment;Replacing the term 'injury prevention' with better alternatives;Using research to create change;The missing piece in reducing injuries in youth sport;Matt's childhood and playing representative sport;Helping youth athletes make difficult decisions;Communicating effectively across multiple sporting environments;How to help young athletes tolerate training load better during periods of accelerated growth;Levelling the playing field for girls to reduce injury;Why developing movement skill in kids is so important;The importance of delivering a message effectively; andMatt's advice for aspiring young athletes.If you enjoy the show, please subscribe using your favourite podcast app. I’d also encourage you to head over to iTunes and give the show a rating as it helps to share the show with more people.Kia ora!Support the show

This conversation is with Dr Katie Cunningham, an Associate Professor of Literacy and English Education at Manhattanville College where she teaches literacy methods, teacher research, and children’s literature courses.Katie is the author of "Start With Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness" and "Story: Still the Heart of Literacy Learning." She is the co-author of "Literacy Leadership in Changing Schools" as well as "The Classroom Bookshelf", a weekly School Library Journal blog dedicated to children’s and young adult literature.In this conversation, Katie describes the 7 pillars at the heart of joyful literacy experiences - connection, choice, challenge, play, story, discovery and movement - and we chat about how each pillar transfers beautifully to athlete development.If you enjoy the show, please subscribe using your favourite podcast app. I’d also encourage you to head over to iTunes and give the show a rating as it helps to share the show with more people.Kia ora!Support the show