The Sport Psych Show
Dan Abrahams
Join Sport Psychologist, Dan Abrahams, on The Sport Psych Show as he aims to demystify sport psychology for players, coaches and parents by speaking with some of the most influential people in sports performance today. Dan is on a mission to learn more about how sport psychology philosophies, tools and techniques positively impact participation, progression and performance in sport. He wants to learn more about how to drive participation – what motivational tools engage players and inspire people to play and stay in their sport. He wants to explore how players can progress quicker and more effectively – what is great practice and training? And how does learning in sport really happen? Finally, he wants to hear what his guests have to say about the psychology of performance – how do they think players can improve their ability to high perform consistently under pressure? Discover simple and practical tools and techniques by listening in to Dan’s conversations with elite competitors, sports coaches, sport scientists, and psychologists.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 31, 2022 • 1h 12min
#176 Dr Ed Coughlan – Embrace the Chaos!
I’m so excited to speak with the very first Sport Psych Show guest, Dr Ed Coughlan this week. Ed is widely acknowledged as one of the top skills coaches working in elite sport today. He is a senior lecturer at Munster Technological University and Research Lead in Skill Acquisition. Ed has worked with a wide range of competitors and coaches including from the EIS, GB Shooting, UEFA, Chelsea FC, St Helen’s Rugby League and with a number of golfers on the European Tour. Ed has over 30 years coaching experience. We discuss how his coaching has changed over that time; being comfortable with not having all the answers for players; the ASPIRE model he and fellow researcher, Dr Paul Ford developed and Ed shares his top tips for coaches of teams for session design with skill acquisition in mind.
6 snips
Jan 24, 2022 • 1h 19min
#175 Dr Michael Ashford - Decision Making Processes in Team Sports
Mike Ashford, a lecturer in Sport Coaching at Coventry University and a coach developer, dives into the complex world of decision-making in team sports. He shares insights from his research on how athletes, especially in rugby union, navigate pressures during competitions. The discussion covers various decision-making theories and the importance of adaptable coaching methods. Mike emphasizes the crucial balance between structured training and real-time adaptations, aiming to enhance players' situational awareness and teamwork.
Jan 17, 2022 • 1h 13min
#174 Dr Bryan McCann – Perceived Influences on Player Motivation
I speak to BPS Chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist and HCPC Practitioner Psychologist, Dr Bryan McCann in this episode. Bryan is a lecturer in Psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University. He is an active researcher interested in a range of sport and exercise psychology topics, in particular the social influences on motivation in sport and exercise contexts. In Bryan’s previous role as a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen he led a range of innovative and award-winning projects. Bryan has provided psychological support to a range of national, international and Olympic level athletes and teams in different sports, including football, golf, swimming, table tennis and skiing and has consulted for organisations such as the Scottish FA, The Camanachd Association, Scottish Swimming and Sport Scotland. Bryan and I speak about a fascinating paper he has written about the perceived influence of coaches, parents and peers on players' motivation during development.
Jan 10, 2022 • 58min
#173 Dr Matthew Schweickle – The Psychology of Clutch Performances
I’m delighted to speak to Dr Matthew Schweickle in this week’s episode. Matt is a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Wollongong. Matt’s particular area of interest is clutch performances and the psychology of what is happening during clutch performances when people are performing well under pressure. We discuss in detail a fascinating paper that Matt wrote, along with Prof Christian Swann and Prof Stewart Vella which looks at objective and subjective performance indicators of clutch performances.
Dec 27, 2021 • 1h 6min
#172 Dr Scott Goldman – Flexible Thinking for a Competitive Mindset
I’m delighted to welcome back licensed clinical psychologist and sport psychologist, Dr Scott Goldman in this episode. Scott started out at the University of Arizona where was one of the first embedded sport psychologists in an athletic department. He has since served as a clinical and performance psychologist for the University of Michigan and Saint Louis’ Athletic Departments. Scott also helped co-author the best practices for the NCAA and was part of their first mental health task force. Scott has worked as sport psychologist for the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions NFL teams and NBA teams Washington Wizards, and currently the Golden State Warriors. Scott has also developed a test called the AIQ which measures sport-specific intelligence that is used across all 5 major leagues in the US as well as in other countries around the world.
Dec 20, 2021 • 1h 11min
#171 Dr Amy Whitehead & Jenny Coe – Myths of Sport Coaching
I speak with Dr Amy Whitehead and Jenny Coe in this episode. Amy is a Reader in Sport Psychology and Coaching and teaches across the Sport Coaching, Physical Education and Sport Psychology programmes at Liverpool John Moores University. Amy is a BPS accredited sport and exercise psychologist and has worked for organisations such as St. Helen’s RFC, British Cycling, the FA, Professional league and non-league football and European Tour Golfers. Jenny is head of performance and well-being at West Ham United Women’s Team. Jenny has been involved with elite sport for most of her life, having played as a guard in basketball for Ireland and WIT Wildcats before joining UK Coaching in 2018, where she supported coaches across 13 high-performance Olympic sports on their respective journeys. Jenny and Amy have edited the newly released ‘Myths of Sport Coaching’ and it’s this fascinating book that we discuss.
Dec 13, 2021 • 1h 10min
#170 Dr Oliver Runswick – Motor Development and Anticipation
I speak with Dr Oliver Runswick in this episode. Ollie is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Performance Psychology at King's College London. His research focuses on understanding and enhancing learning and performance in domains including sport, dance, education, and the military. Prior to joining King’s Ollie worked as a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology and Programme Co-ordinator at The University of Chichester and as an Evening Lecturer in ‘The Brain: Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience’ at Imperial College London. He has received a first-class BSc in Sport and Exercise Science from Swansea University, MSc in Human Movement Science from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, PGCHE from St Mary’s University, and PhD from Liverpool Hope University where he studied perceptual-motor skills based with St Mary’s University’s Expertise and Skill Acquisition Research Group.
Dec 6, 2021 • 1h 6min
#169 Dr Karen Howells & Holly Bradshaw - The Need for Better Support Systems in Sport
I’m delighted to speak with Dr Karen Howells and Holly Bradshaw in this episode. Karen is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Cardiff Metropolitan University. She is a Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a registered Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Karen regularly provides sport and performance psychology support to athletes from a wide range of individual and team sports competing at a variety of levels. Holly is the British record holder in pole vault and recent Olympic bronze medallist winner at the Tokyo Olympics. Holly is also a Sport Psychology MSc student at Loughborough University and has co-authored a new paper along with Karen and Mathijs Lucassen entitled “Abandoned to manage the post-Olympic blues: Olympians reflect on their experiences and the need for a change”. It’s this fascinating paper that we discuss.
Nov 29, 2021 • 60min
#168 Dr Jamie Taylor - Optimising Experiences in Talent Development Environments
I’m delighted to speak with Dr Jamie Taylor in this episode. Jamie is a senior coach developer at Grey Matters, a company specialising in performance enhancement and coaching development for individuals, sporting/cultural organisations and systems. Jamie is also Assistant Professor at Dublin City University. He works at The University of Edinburgh, and he coaches Performance Rugby at Loughborough University. We discuss in depth two fascinating papers Jamie has recently written about optimising talent development experience.
Nov 22, 2021 • 1h 14min
#167 Dr Mustafa Sarkar - How to Create a Psychologically Safe Environment
I’m delighted to welcome Dr Mustafa Sarkar back on the show. Mustafa is Associate Professor of Sport and Performance Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. His main area of research is on individual, team and organisational resilience in elite sport. Mustafa has a background in teaching and research with most of his research focusing on the psychology of sporting and performance excellence, specifically looking at resilience in high achievers in sport and business. Mustafa also works with coaches and organisations helping them to develop resilience in athletes and teams. We talk about a brilliant paper that Mustafa has contributed to which discusses psychological safety in sport.
