I’m excited to have assistant coach for the Chicago Red Stars, Gary Curneen on this episode. Gary has held various coaching positions over the years and played collegiate soccer at Wingate University, helping lead the men’s soccer team to their first-ever NCAA Division II playoff berth.   Gary is also founder of the Modern Soccer Coach which aims to create and help develop elite coaches through books, coaching clinics, mentorship programmes, podcasts and webinars. Inspired by players, coaches, and leaders who want to get out of their comfort zone and make an impact, their goal is to give back to the players and coaches who love soccer as much as they do. We speak about the impact of playing college soccer in the US; overcoming insecurities as a player; learning that there’s more to coaching than x’s and o’s; learning from experience; having a mentor and coming up with innovative ideas to engage players.

I have the pleasure of being joined by Lauren Abarca - Mental Conditioning Coordinator with the New York Yankees. Lauren is an experienced soccer player who competed for the University of San Francisco and Point Loma Nazarene University. In this time, she completed her B.A. in Kinesiology with a Minor in Psychology. As a former collegiate athlete Lauren acquired a passion for improving sports performance through mental strengthening. Lauren went on to receive her Master's in Performance Psychology from National University. Lauren continues her passion for improving performance by working with elite level athletes including professional and Olympic. We speak about psychology in baseball; knowing the individual; personality; the importance of observation; self-awareness; asking the right questions; giving too much feedback and identity.

In this episode I speak with former Olympic rower, Annie Vernon. Annie is an Olympic silver medallist and two-time World Champion. She is now a respected sports journalist and has just written a fantastic book entitled Mind Games - Determination, Doubt and Lucky Socks: An Insider's Guide to the Psychology of Elite Athletes. Through interviews with leading sports stars and the latest scientific research, Mind Games looks at how elite sports performers harness the power of their mind in pursuit of physical perfection. We speak about the experience of seeing a sport psychologist; nature vs nurture; ‘talent needs trauma’; conscientiousness; the importance of experience; competitiveness; motivation and mental qualities of elite athletes.

Basketball coach Carly Clarke discusses champion's behaviors, coaching through questioning, athlete ownership, team cohesion, managing distractions, learning from losses, and post-training reflection in an engaging conversation.

This week is Clean Sport Week in the UK. Clean Sport week is an initiative run by UKAD (UK Anti-Doping) and is an opportunity to come together and celebrate the important values of clean sport and support the hard work that sport in the UK is doing in the fight against doping. This year the main focus of the week is on Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs (IPEDs), and in particular the use of IPEDs within the gym environment. I am joined by sport psychology consultant Dr Claire-Marie Roberts to discuss all things psychology and drug use in sport. Claire-Marie holds an academic position at the University of the West of England and works for the Premier League in coach and football manager development. She also sits of the board of UKAD. We speak about the motivations behind IPED use; normalising the use of IPEDs; the prevalence of IPEDs; social identity and breaking the cycle of IPED use.

In this episode I speak with chartered occupational psychologist, Sarah Broadhead. Sarah is currently the GB Taekwondo team psychologist and has worked with a range of sports – British Swimming, GB Canoeing, Archery GB, UK Athletics, GB Triathlon, Formula 3 motor racing, European Tour golfers, a world champion 800m runner and CG gold medal winning mountain biker. Sarah was part of the Director team that created Chimp Management with Prof Steve Peters in 2013, shaping the vision of the company. She now has her own company which gives individuals and organisations in sport and business the insight, skills and support they need to perform and thrive. We speak about Compassion Focused Therapy; the complexities of the brain; understanding why the brain does what it does; the differences between the adult and adolescent brain; understanding why someone is doing what they’re doing; ownership; normalising feelings; role modelling; motivation; developing a positive inner voice; and threat, drive and compassion.

I’m delighted to be joined by one of the world’s leading sport and performance psychologists in this episode - Dr Andrea Furst. Andrea currently works with Surrey cricket and GB and England Hockey as well as having her own consultancy. She has been involved in 4 Olympic and para-Olympic games, specifically in Australian sprint canoe-kayak, 100m hurdles, long jump, triathlon, as well as sailing and swimming for Singapore. Andrea was psychologist to the gold medal winning Great Britain women’s hockey team in Rio 2016. We speak about cultural differences in sport and in athletes; working with Olympic teams as a sport psychologist; the importance of not being results focused; talking about failure as well as success; identity; vulnerability and the characteristics of great coaches.

I have the pleasure of being joined by David White in this episode. David is a public speaker, national learning facilitator, consultant and performance coach. He has recently released a fascinating book called Superstitionism - The Psychology of Sport which looks at the role superstition plays for athletes in all sports the world over. And it’s this book we focus on during our discussion, specifically: superstition as a belief system; the impact of ‘lucky’ boots; why athletes have superstitions; the ‘actual truth’ vs the ‘awful truth’; luck vs chance and probability; self-talk; law of attraction and superstitions as a source of comfort. 

I'm joined by coaching expert, speaker, educator and author Coach Reed Maltbie in this episode. Reed is the founder of Raising Excellence, a company working with educators, coaches, parents, athletes, and sports leaders to develop more effective sports participation models. Previously Chief Content Officer and Lead Presenter for the Changing the Game Project, Reed has been coaching excellence beyond the game for 26 years and has become an internationally respected expert on youth sports. He has also authored articles and presented webinars on communication, culture, bullying, competitive mindset, skill acquisition. We speak about peak performances; removing fear; competency; the importance of feeling valued; the significance of significance; allowing players to explore and coaches being afraid of change.

In this episode I’m speaking with inspirational consultant, coach and facilitator Paul Z Jackson. Paul devises and runs training courses and development programmes in change, strategy, leadership, teamwork, performance improvement and innovation and he’s actually been a big influence on my career since I attended one of his courses back in 2005. Paul’s Solutions Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) courses have led hundreds of people and organisations through positive processes of change. And in this podcast, we focus on SFBT, specifically we speak about focusing on solutions not problems; what confidence looks like; scaling; learning from success; drawing attention to the things that players are doing well and using clear not complicated language.