The Sport Psych Show

I’m delighted to speak to educator and author Doug Lemov on this week’s episode. Doug is a former teacher and school principal. Doug’s international bestselling book “Teach like a Champion”, now in its third edition, describes techniques used by exceptional teachers. It has sold more than a million copies and is responsible for transforming classrooms around the world. In his book “The Coach’s Guide to Teaching” Doug brings his considerable knowledge about the science of classroom teaching to the sports coaching world to create championship calibre coaches on the court and field. In this episode Doug and I speak about improving players’ ability to ‘read the game’. Specifically, Doug shares his theory that helping players to develop their reading of the game is similar to helping people to learn to read text. Doug discusses three factors that he feels are crucial for quick and accurate game reading: fluency, vocabulary, and knowledge. Together, we unpack these factors and bring to life how coaches can utilise them in practice.

This week I’m delighted to speak to Dr Kathryn Johnston and Prof Joe Baker. Kathryn currently works at the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York University, Canada as a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow. She teaches a business administration in sport course, and a sport psychology course. Kathryn previously worked with student athletes from a developmental and wellness perspective supporting students during difficult transitions. Joe is the Head of the Lifespan Performance Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science, at York University. Joe’s research focuses on optimal human development, largely to understand how someone gets to, and stays at, the highest levels of performance. Kathryn and Joe have co-authored a paper along with Alexander McAuley and Dr Adam Kelly entitled “Language games and blurry terminology: Can clarity enhance athlete development?” and it’s this fascinating paper that we discuss in this episode. 

This week I’m delighted to speak to Prof Andrew Lane and Prof Greg Whyte OBE. Greg is an Olympian in modern pentathlon, and is a European and World Championship medallist. Greg is a Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moore’s University and Director of Performance at the Centre for Health and Human Performance. Greg's former roles include Director of Research for the British Olympic Association and Director of Science & Research for the English Institute of Sport. In 2014 Greg was awarded an OBE for his services to Sport, Sport Science and Charity, and was voted as one of the Top 10 Science Communicators in the UK by the British Science Council. Andy is a BASES accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist, a Chartered Sport Psychologist registered with the HCPC, and a Professor of Sport Psychology at the University of Wolverhampton. Andy completed his undergraduate, Masters degree and PhD before becoming a lecturer at Brunel University. He then moved to the University of Wolverhampton where he progressed from Senior Lecturer to Associate Dean. Andy is responsible for developing and implementing a research strategy for staff and doctoral students. Greg, Andy and I discuss the psychology of endurance and we speak about Greg’s incredible documentary ‘Unstoppable: Inside the Mind of the Extreme Athlete’.

I’m excited to speak with Dr Peter Sear in this episode. Peter is the founder of The Empathic Minds Organisation, a company working with coaches and leaders to help their teams and organisations achieve their needs and goals. Specifically assisting in areas such as increasing productivity; developing great leadership; developing cohesive teams; and improving communication.  Peter has a background in psychology and is interested in emotional environments within organisations and the influence of empathic leadership. He completed his PhD in Empathic Leadership of teams in sport. Peter has just released a book on this subject entitled “Empathic Leadership: Lessons from Elite Sport” drawing on his extensive research and experience incorporating the words of leaders of teams to help to explain how empathy can help leaders be successful in their work. And it’s this fantastic book we speak about.

I’m delighted to speak with Dr Robin Taylor and 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 working on their Performance programmes. He also coaches academy rugby union at Midlands Central academy.  Robin is an Assistant Professor in Elite Performance at Dublin City University. His research is focused on talent development and he is particularly interested in the holistic role family can play in the development of sporting talent. Robin is a Performance Centre Head Coach within the England Hockey Player Pathway and has worked closely with a range of NGBs and sports organisation supporting player and coach development, and parental engagement. We discuss a brilliant paper Robin and Jamie have written alongside Dr Michael Ashford and Dr Rosie Collins entitled “Contemporary pedagogy? The use of theory in practice: An evidence-informed perspective”.

I’m delighted to welcome back Amy Price in this episode. Amy works as a coach developer for the FA working with coaches in the senior women’s professional game – women’s super league, women’s championship, first team and under 21’s. Prior to this, Amy was a lecturer at St Mary’s University, London in Physical and Sport Education and then Programme Director. Amy holds a Masters and DProf and is nearing completion of her PhD in game understanding within team sport. We discuss a fascinating paper Amy has written alongside Prof Dave Collins entitled “Contributing to a Coaching Team’s Shared Mental Model of Player Game Understanding: An Intervention within High-Level Youth Soccer” which examines coaches’ views on levels of player understanding, checks the coherence of these views between the coaching team and provides coaching teams with tools to measure and build Shared Mental Models. 

I’m delighted to speak with Dr Matt Hoffmann in this episode. Matt is Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton. He is primarily interested in examining the nature and benefits of high-quality peer athlete mentoring relationships. Relatedly, he investigates how athletes exhibit effective leadership behaviours, including the ways in which leadership is often distributed among team members. Additional interests include the home (dis)advantage phenomenon (particularly in ice hockey), coaching in Masters athletics and the psychosocial experiences of Masters athletes.  Matt and I discuss a paper he wrote with Dr Jeemin Kim entitled ‘Personality, social status and willingness to mentor teammates among NCAA athletes’ which investigates why athletes are inclined to mentor teammates examining whether personality and social status predicted athletes’ willingness to provide mentorship.

I am delighted to welcome back Dr Andrew Abraham to the show this week. Andrew is Head of Department for Sport Coaching at Leeds Beckett University. He is a coach developer with an interest in how coaches do their job in relation to effectiveness, judgement, decision-making and talent development.   Andrew has most recently been involved in developing and delivering a Post Graduate Diploma in Coach Development to coach developers within The English Football Association.  Andrew's research and consultancy work is recognised across the world. The impact of this work is seen within the International Sport Coaching Degree Standards, co-produced with the International Council for Coaching Excellence, academics from universities across continents and practitioners from International Coaching Federations. We speak about Professional Judgement and Decision Making (PJDM) in coaching.

I’m delighted to welcome back Richard Nugent to the show. Richard is founder and MD of TwentyOne Leadership.  Over the past 20 years, Richard has worked with thousands of professionals in some of the biggest and best-known organisations in the world. He specialises in helping executive leaders and teams grow and change their strategic direction.  Richard also teaches leadership and culture modules on the League Managers Association (LMA) diploma in management for up-and-coming football managers. Richard is the best-selling author of several books and his latest ‘The Alignment Advantage’ is out in June.  We speak all things leadership and culture and Richard gives some brilliant real-world examples about culture, leadership and engagement that are applicable in sport, business and life.

In this episode I’m joined by Dr Shane Pill. Shane is one of Australia's leading coach educators and developers, and thought leaders in physical education. He is Associate Professor in Physical Education and Sport at Flinders University. Shane's research is in the fields of sport coaching and physical education curriculum and pedagogy, and education leadership. He has authored over 150 peer reviewed and scholarly articles. Shane is an experienced consultant and education provider to the sport and education industry, contributing to wellbeing, physical activity, sport and physical education work groups, committees and reference groups. Shane has worked with the Department of Education, Australian Sports Commission/Sport Australia, Tennis Australia, Cricket Australia, South Australian Cricket Association, Australian Football League, South Australian Football League, West Australian Football Commission, South Australian Certificate of Education Board, Rugby Australia, Lacrosse Australia, ACT Physical Activity Foundation, and Australian Rugby League.  Shane and I talk about his experiences as a coach and coach educator and we discuss games-based approaches to coaching and the ‘Spectrum of Teaching Styles’.