The Sport Psych Show

I’m delighted to speak with Professor Laurence Alison and Dr Neil Shortland in this episode. Laurence is Chair of Forensic and Investigative Psychology at Liverpool University. He is a leader in forensic psychology, and specialises in the most difficult interactions imaginable: criminal interrogations. He advises and trains the police, security agencies, the FBI and the CIA on how to deal with extremely dangerous suspects. Neil is the Director of the Centre for Terrorism and Security Studies (CTSS) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. CTSS leads and facilitates scientific research, education and training to help understand and respond to the evolution, convergence and complexity of domestic and foreign security challenges. Having spent over 20 years helping soldiers, police officers, doctors and other professionals in high-stakes environments make tough decisions when lives are on the line, Laurence and Neil have written the brilliant new book “Decision Time: How to make the choices your life depends on”. In the book they show us how those same decision-making techniques apply to everyday life. With tips, studies, interviews and observations from their training with police officers together with role-play scenarios, this book will help you identify and fight off the common enemies of good decision-making - inertia, procrastination and indecision - and empower you to make the choices that matter the most.

I speak to Dr Gillian Cook in this week’s episode. Gillian is a Lecturer in Sport and Performance Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. She is a British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist, and a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered Practitioner Psychologist. She is the club sport psychologist at Dundee United Football Club, and has worked with teams and organisations including British Swimming, British Athletics, Birmingham City Football Club's Academy, Scottish Hockey, Loughborough Sport, Nike, the NHS, and BBC. Gillian teaches and supervises across the undergraduate, postgraduate, professional doctorate and PhD degree programmes. She is the Module Leader for Developmental Psychology and Individual Differences, as well as Developmental and Social Psychology. Her research interests include high performance leadership, and the psychology of performance excellence. Specifically, her research examines how effective leaders create the conditions for others to thrive and deliver optimal outcomes in high pressure environments.

In this episode, I’m delighted to be joined by Prof Peter Clough, Doug Strycharczyk and Dr John Perry who have come on to talk about the newly released 3rd edition of the brilliant book Developing Mental Toughness: Strategies to Improve Performance, Resilience and Wellbeing in Individuals and Organizations. Prof Peter Clough needs little introduction having helped develop the concept of mental toughness. Peter is a research professor interested in performance under pressure and performance enhancement, in particular Mental Toughness. Doug Strycharczyk is the founder and CEO of AQR International - the business that has taken the concept of Mental Toughness and introduced it to people all over the world through psychometric testing.   Dr John Perry is Head of Department of Psychology at Mary Immaculate College. He has served as Acting Dean of Arts and worked as a lecturer in UK university. His research interests initially developed from a sports background and are now applied more broadly. John has joined Peter and Doug to co-author the 3rd edition of Developing Mental Toughness.

In this episode I welcome back sport and performance scientist Elliott Newell. This time Elliott is joined by Olympic Canoe Slalom Coach at British Canoeing, Craig Morris.   Elliott is currently Senior Performance Pathway Scientist at the English Institute of Sport. Specialising in psychological support, Elliott works in high performance sport with an emphasis on talent development. His focus is on supporting sports in using psychological knowledge and strategies to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of performance pathways. Craig works within the elite performance pathway of British Canoeing and is just back from the Tokyo Olympics. Craig nurtures high performing people to facilitate high performing athletes, by always taking a person-centred approach, prioritising connections with self, belonging and psychological safety.

I speak to Prof Adam Nicholls in this week’s episode. Adam is a professor of sport psychology at the University of Hull. Adam’s research is supported by more than £1.1 million as a principal investigator and £1.5 million including all projects. He has published more than 85 journal articles and written 3 books. Adam and I speak about the recently released 3rd edition of his book Psychology in Sports Coaching Theory and Practice which has been fully revised and updated. Drawing on the very latest research and theory, the book introduces the psychological tools and techniques that coaches can use to get the best performances out of their athletes. Including three new chapters on the constraints approach to assessing psychological needs, mental imagery, managing perfectionism tendencies, and mentoring leaders.

I speak to Niels Feddersen in this week’s episode. Niels is a postdoctoral researcher in sports science at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Niels studies organisational culture and power relations in elite sports organisations in the UK, Norway, and Denmark. Niels obtained his PhD from Liverpool John Moores University. In the research, he collaborated with several Olympic sports organisations, the FA, and Premier League football clubs. Niels also has a background as a practitioner in sport psychology, primarily in rowing in the youth national teams in Denmark. We speak about a fantastic paper that Niels has contributed to entitled A Qualitative Meta-Study of a Decade of the Holistic Ecological Approach to Talent Development

I speak to Dr Suzanne Brown in this week’s episode. Suzanne is a clinical psychologist specialising in mental health and performance. She works with individuals in one-to-one therapy and with elite organisations in sport, business and education. With over 14 years of experience, she has pioneered a new way of working that bridges clinical psychology with elite performance, helping people to achieve emotional fitness across all areas of their life.  We speak about mental health in sport and how understanding yourself better can help you to flourish personally and professionally.     

I’m delighted to speak to Amy Williams MBE in this week’s episode. Amy was a Gold Medal winner in the women's Skeleton  2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. She won Great Britain’s first gold medal in an individual event for 30 years, and the first by a woman for 58 years. Amy retired as an athlete in 2012 and has spent the years since doing television presenting roles, public appearances and motivational speaking. Amy has a book coming out on October 8th entitled Talent to Triumph: How Athletes Turn Potential into High Performance in which Amy guides the reader through their entire sporting journey, using her own experiences and those of some of Britain's greatest athletes to help turn talent into your triumph. You'll learn about mindset, confidence, teamwork, overcoming barriers & setbacks, dealing with injuries, longevity, training & preparation, talent identification schemes, maximising competition/match day outcomes.

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Ed Cope & Prof Chris Cushion. Ed is a lecturer in Sport Coaching at Loughborough University. He completed his BSc in Sport Coaching from Leeds Beckett University, his MSc in Sports Coaching Science from the University of Worcester and his PhD at the University of Bedfordshire. Ed has also worked at the English Football Association, where he was responsible for the design and development of their education courses. Chris is Professor of Coaching and Pedagogy at Loughborough University. Starting out as a football coach, Chris has worked at every level of the game – from community schemes, grassroots football and academy professional clubs at all age levels. Ed and Chris have come back on the show to further discuss the topic of ‘direct instruction’ in coaching. Specifically, we speak about Barak Rosenshine’s principles of instruction, linking them to sports coaching.  

I speak to Dr Camilla Knight in this week’s episode. Camilla is a professor at Swansea University specialising in sport psychology, particularly in youth sport. Her particular area of interest is around parent involvement in sport. Camilla completed her BSc and MSc at Loughborough University, and her PhD at the University of Alberta in Canada. She is also the lead of the Welsh Research Advisory and Evaluation group for the Child Protection in Sport Unit, a member of the Welsh Safeguarding in Sport Strategy group, and the Youth Sport lead for the Welsh Institute of Performance Science. We speak about parents in sport: the challenges they face; helping coaches understand their perspective; and simple ways that coaches can help to create a parent-positive environment.