The Sport Psych Show

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.  

  I have the pleasure of being joined by Dr Mustafa Sarkar and Clara Swedlund. Mustafa is Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. His background is 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 works with coaches and organisations helping them to develop resilience in athletes and teams. Clara is currently undertaking her Masters degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Loughborough University. Clara competes as a body builder and talks about how she applies the techniques she studies to her training and competitive mindset.  She also runs a blog that documents her journey to becoming a qualified sport psychologist and on it, she wrote a blog post that was based on an article Mustafa had co-written about resilience which is why they’ve come together on the Sport Psych Show. We look at what resilience is; personality characteristics; the significance of environment; high challenge, high support environments; Cognitive Behavioural Theory (CBT) and psychological safety.

I have the pleasure of being joined by sport and performance scientist Elliott Newell on this episode. Elliot 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. We speak about British canoeing; considering the performer, the athlete, and the person; balancing learning, well-being and performance; Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE); Formulation Analysis; and the importance of integrating sport psychology into the environment.

I speak with The Wall Street Journal’s leadership columnist Sam Walker on this episode. Sam founded the Journal’s prizewinning daily sports coverage in 2009 and is a former reporter, sports columnist, and sports editor. Sam also consults with companies and teams about building better leadership cultures and has authored the hugely popular book "The Captain Class" which looks at the link between the seventeen most dominant teams in sports history. And it’s this book that we mainly focus on during our chat. We speak about the relationship between a captain and the coach; the culture of winning; Sir Alex Ferguson; the role of a coach; the traits of highly successful captains; delegating leadership skills; and body language and projecting the right emotions.

In this episode I’m joined by professional basketball coach, consultant, and clinician Brian McCormick. Brian has coached professionally in Denmark, Ireland, and Sweden, taking a team to the finals in Denmark's 1st Division and being selected to coach in Sweden's Damligan All-Star Game. Brian completed his PhD in Exercise and Sports Science at the University of Utah, and has had peer-reviewed papers published in the International Journal of Exercise Science, International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, and Strength & Conditioning Journal. He’s written several books including an enormously popular one called ‘The 21st Century Basketball Practice’. And it’s this book that we focus on mainly in this podcast. Specifically we talk about, flow vs deliberate practice; keeping the game fun and enjoyable at all levels; educative vs training environment; reducing mistakes vs improving skill; the importance of players practice handling mistakes in training and Brian’s greatest coaching influences.  

I have the pleasure of being joined by Shaun Larkin, Coordinator of Skill Development for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team on this episode. Previously Shaun played professional baseball and then moved into coaching before completing a Master’s degree in Performance Psychology. In his current role Shaun oversees how practices are designed for players and how players are developed in terms of skill acquisition, motor learning and mental skills.  We speak about how baseball has realised the importance of mental skills; sport psychology for tough times as well as good times; player development; the strain on young baseball players; the pressure put onto very young players in the US; helping young players to make their own decisions; coaches and parents creating experiences for players; the advantage of doing reps and practice-based evidence.

I speak with Jason Severiano Lampkin and Alex Billington, two ex-professional soccer players who were both forced to stop playing due to career-ending injuries in this episode. Jason played at the Manchester United Academy and then completed his apprenticeship at Aston Villa, while Alex attended the Blackburn Academy and then earned a professional contract at Preston. After being released by their respective teams, both Jason and Alex decided to make the move to the US after receiving scholarships, and this is when they met each other. We speak about having the expectation from a young age of becoming a professional footballer; sport forming a player’s identity; having your identity taken away from you when you stop playing competitively; not having support to deal with a bad game; having a post-match routine; dealing with injury; the need for psychological support in sport; moving on from a career in football.

I’m lucky enough to be joined by Frank "The Legend" Shamrock in this episode. Frank is an American MMA fighter (retired), entrepreneur, motivational speaker and philanthropist. He was the 1st to hold the UFC Middleweight Championship and retired as the 4-time defending undefeated champion and the #1 ranked UFC fighter in the world. Frank is also CEO of the Shamrock Way organisation - a volunteer-powered charity committed to helping at-risk youth become leaders of sport, technology and social activism. We speak about Frank’s early fights and the unique approach he took to them; self-talk; using emotion and intelligence in sport; visualisation; the power of meditation and defining your dreams and taking action.