The Sport Psych Show

I speak with Morten Bertelsen in this week's episode. Morten is the first team sport psychologist at F.C. Copenhagen supporting players, coaches, and staff in one of Scandinavia's leading football clubs. Morten has worked with the development of people and organisations in many contexts for the past 15 years. His work places particular emphasis on the relational side of performance - exploring how trust, communication, shared understanding, psychological safety and the quality of relationships between players can influence performance under pressure. Morten holds degrees in both psychology from the University of Copenhagen and sport science from the University of Southern Denmark. Across a career spanning more than two decades, he has worked across elite sport, organisational psychology, leadership, consultancy and education. Morten has also held teaching roles at Aalborg University and the University of Copenhagen. Alongside his work in elite football, Morten speaks and consults with organisations, leaders and teams, translating lessons from high-performance sport into practical approaches to leadership, relationships, collaboration and team performance.

I speak with performance psychologist, author, researcher, and world-leading expert in flow, Dr Sue Jackson in this week's episode. Sue's expertise is grounded in the psychology of flow: the state of optimal engagement and experience. Sue primarily works as a consultant with athletes, medical professionals, business leaders, and performing artists to optimise potential, manage pressure, and create meaningful, high-quality experiences in their personal and professional lives. She has published extensively on the subject of flow and related psychological concepts. In collaboration with her mentor and the founder of flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Sue co-authored "Flow in Sports", a book that introduced athletes and coaches worldwide to applying flow to performance. In this this episode we discuss Sue's new book "Experiencing Flow: Life Beyond Boredom and Anxiety", a book that shares practical insights drawn from decades of research, applied consulting, and direct collaboration with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

I speak with J.P. Nerbun in this week's episode. J.P. is a leading expert on culture transformation and the author of four books on leadership. He is the founder and CEO of TOC, an ecosystem of online communities, courses, and coaching for sports organisations worldwide. An ICF PCC Executive Coach, he specialises in developing high-performance leaders and teams across the sports, education, and corporate sectors. In this episode J.P. and I speak about his latest book "The Culture Captain: A 4-Level Framework for Athletes: Know Yourself, Lead Yourself, Lead Others, Lead the Team" which provides practical leadership tools and coaching for athletes. Drawing on his coaching conversations with over 100 elite athletes and research into the world's greatest athlete leaders, this transformational guide is designed to be experienced, not just read. Through the fictional story of Lily and real-world examples of elite leaders, readers will be coached through a J.P's 4-level leadership framework.

Prof Shane Pill, coach educator and researcher; Dr Will Vickery, community coach development specialist; Pip Henderson, researcher in sport, injury and community-engaged projects. They explore how coaches define success in sport. Short takes on methods used, key themes like performance versus development, the role of winning, pedagogy’s impact, person-centred coaching, enjoyment as a foundation, and implications for organisations.

John O'Sullivan, coach and founder of the Changing the Game Project, and Dr Jerry Lynch, performance psychologist and leadership coach, discuss their new book Captain. They explore leadership as a learnable skill, core qualities like vulnerability and humility, practical ways athletes lead by example, handling tough conversations, delegating in critical moments, and teaching leadership through a 10-session curriculum.

Mark Peters, Deputy Head and experienced coach educator, chats with Dan Abrahams about his new book Compete. They explore why Dan returned to long-form writing and who the book is for. Short segments cover the elite competitor model, attention-intensity-intent, practical mindset tools, teaching kids, and making players active participants in their own development.

Richard Fryer, a sports psychologist and AIS senior consultant with Olympic and Paralympic experience, explains coaching under pressure. He talks about psychological flexibility, mental skills for competition, and how coaches prepare with planning and simulations. He also covers in-competition emotion management, attention shifting, and clear, adaptive communication.

I'm delighted to speak with Dr Séamus Harvey and Dr Chin Wei Ong in this week's episode. We discuss a mental well-being screening process which was implemented at an elite youth football academy developed by Séamus, Chin and colleagues. Séamus is a Postdoctoral Researcher with the NetwellCASALA research centre at Dundalk Institute of Technology. Séamus researches digital health and health psychology as well as sport and exercise psychology. Séamus also lectures on Dundalk Institute of Technology's (DkIT's) Health and Physical Activity programme. Séamus completed his MSc. in Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology at Ulster University and a PhD in Sport Psychology at Bangor University. Prior to his PhD, Séamus worked as a Research Assistant with Liverpool John Moores University. Chin is a behavioural scientist and consultant with 15+ years' experience across elite sport, research, and organisational contexts. Chin's work focuses on how individuals and teams perform under pressure, and how organisations can design systems that enable sustainable performance. Chin previously worked across a global network of elite environments, designing systems that integrated performance, talent development, wellbeing, and risk. These are challenges that closely mirror those faced by organisations operating in complex, high-stakes contexts. Chin is particularly interested in helping organisations move beyond measuring talent to truly understanding it; using that insight to build stronger leaders, more effective teams, and resilient performance cultures.

Daniel Coyle, award-winning author who studies how people and groups grow, explains the ideas behind Flourish. He contrasts hard, deep practice with the sustaining power of connection, story and joy. He shares simple tools like the connective pause, the 4-Hs exercise, player-led practices and small acts of service that build ownership, presence and experimental, flourishing cultures.

Declan O'Connell, coach and performance consultant with 20+ years and a PhD focus on adaptability. He breaks down adaptive versus routine expertise. He outlines four pillars: self-awareness, flexing to connect, contextual sensitivity, and accelerated learning. Conversations cover mentorship, reading the room, curiosity, reflective practice, and practical steps to build adaptability in high-pressure settings.