In this episode I’m delighted to speak with Dr Ross Wadey and Dr Melissa Day, Ross is a Professor in Sport Psychology at St Mary’s University. Ross’s research is at the forefront of advancing knowledge in areas including psycho-social-cultural considerations in the prevention of, and recovery from, sport injury and multilevel learning following adversity in sport and beyond. Ross is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and a Full Member of the Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology. He sits on the Editorial Board for The Sport Psychology and Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. Mel is a Reader in Qualitative Sport Psychology at University of Chichester and the programme coordinator for the BSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology. She teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level and currently supervises PhD students. Mel’s main research area is stress and trauma in sport including vicarious trauma in sport through witnessing injury, and the potential that sport holds to foster post traumatic growth. Mel is BASES accredited and HCPC registered. She regularly reviews for a range of journals and is on the editorial board of Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health. Ross, Mel and I discuss the psychology of injury and explore how the stories we have about ourselves can be a help or a hindrance.

I'm delighted to speak with Dr Matthew Scott, Prof Paul Holmes and Dr David Wright in this episode.   Matt is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia in the School of Kinesiology. Matt investigates the effect of dyad practice - training with a partner - on motor learning. His interests are in combined (and independent) action observation and motor imagery, motor learning and motor control. Paul is Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor in the Faculty of Health and Education at Manchester Metropolitan University and a Research Professor of Motor Cognition. Paul’s research interests include motor cognition in human performance and movement rehabilitation where he has published widely on both subjects focusing on motor imagery and action observation mechanisms. Paul has worked as a sport psychologist in high performance sport for over 25 years. David is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at Manchester Metropolitan University. His area of interest is in neurophysiological processes involved in various aspects of sport psychology. David’s research focuses on motor imagery using brain stimulation techniques. Matt, Paul, David and I discuss a fascinating paper they have published alongside Dr Dave Smith and led by Matt which reviews PETTLEP imagery. The PETTLEP model was first published by Paul and Professor Dave Collins 20 years ago as a framework to improve the delivery and outcome of motor imagery (MI) interventions. Drawing on research from neuroscience, cognitive-behavioural psychology, and sport psychology the model served as a set of guidelines for sport psychologists to consider when developing MI interventions and tailoring them to individual athlete needs. PETTLEP is an acronym for seven practical elements that sport psychologists could consider when developing MI interventions with athletes (Physical, Environment, Task, Timing, Learning, Emotion, and Perspective). In the 20 years since its publication, the PETTLEP model has become one of the most dominant models for structuring MI interventions in sport.  Please see a link to the paper here https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667239122000260?via%3Dihub

This week I’m delighted to speak to Adam Commens. Adam is the High Performance Director of the Belgium Hockey Federation. Adam is a former player himself, having represented the Australian Men’s National Field Hockey Team at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, where they won a bronze medal. After his playing days, Adam moved into various coaching roles. He coached the Belgium National Team, leading them to the Beijing Olympics and was the head coach of the Australian women's national field hockey team, coaching them to the London and Rio Olympic Games. Since 2016 Adam has been in the role of High Performance Director at the Belgium Hockey Federation. This has been a hugely successful period for the Red Lions, winning at the World Champions, the European Champions, and taking Olympic Gold in 2020. Adam and I speak about what it takes to develop a high performance environment to help athletes flourish and how to incorporate psychology into  coaching sessions.

In this episode I’m delighted to speak with Marketa Simova and Richard Simpson. Marketa is a PhD researcher at Sheffield Hallam University. Marketa’s research explores the mental health and well-being of high-performance coaches. Her role involves wide literature searches and interviewing with subsequent data analysis. Marketa also supports teaching activities at Sheffield Hallam University, teaching on various well-being and research methodology-related modules. Richard is a PhD candidate, an associate lecturer and a research assistant in sport and exercise psychology within the Carnegie School of Sport at Leeds Becket University. Richard is also an associate lecturer at The Open university. Richard’s doctoral research is centred around advancing theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and applied knowledge of psychological well-being in sport organizations. We discuss all things well-being and talk about several studies Richard and Marketa have undertaken including their joint paper “In Pursuit of the ‘Good Life’: Concerns, Considerations, and Choices in the Exploration of Psychological Well-Being in Sport” (as yet unpublished).

I'm honoured to speak with Peter Moores and Chris Marshall in this episode.   Peter is a former first-class cricketer who played for the England Cricket Team. Peter moved into coaching and was the head coach of the men's England cricket team twice. He was the performance director at the National Academy for England and has coached at three different county clubs: Sussex, Lancashire and now Head Coach at Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. Chris has been a sport psychologist for 14 years starting out as a sport psychology intern at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) under the guidance of Dr Pete Lindsay and Dr Mark Bawden. Chris has worked as the sport psychologist for Olympic Table Tennis, Paralympic Table Tennis, GB Boxing, the English FA, and cricket. Chris now works as an independent sport psychologist, spending most of his time between Nottinghamshire CCC and Wasps Rugby Team. Peter and Chris have forged a fantastic relationship at Nottinghamshire CCC with sport psychology being fully integrated into the coaching practice. We discuss how Peter and Chris work together to create a psychologically informed environment that supports all players and staff.

I’m delighted to speak to Dr Tom Mitchell this week. Tom is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching at Leeds Beckett University. Tom’s research interest is in the lived experiences of youth and professional footballers and how organisational culture in professional football influences the development of their Identity. Tom has over 10 years of engagement with professional football. Recently, he has engaged in performance coaching activity within professional squads working with players and staff. Tom is also a grassroots coach. Tom and I discuss a brilliant paper he has published which he led along with other authors entitled ‘Fostering Psychosocial Characteristics Within an English Soccer Academy’. The aim of the paper is to present a real-life example of the design, delivery, and implementation of a theoretically informed psychosocial development programme for players within an academy soccer setting to include player workshops, coach delivery and ways to influence the environment.

I'm delighted to speak with Steafan Deery and Dr Kyle Paradis in this episode.   Steafan is completing his PhD on Leadership and Team Dynamics at Ulster University. He is also a PE lecturer at the School of Sport at Ulster University. Steafan's PhD examines coach leadership, particularly transformational leadership and social identity leadership. His interest in the theoretical underpinning of coaching stems from his years as a coach. Steafan previously spent 10 years coaching with the Irish Football Association. Kyle is an Assistant Professor lecturing in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Ulster University. His research interests include group dynamics and the social processes in sport groups and its influences on mental health outcomes. Kyle holds professional membership affiliations with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) and the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS). We discuss different leadership styles in sport and in particular identity leadership and transformational leadership.

In this episode I welcome back Professor Nicola Hodges. This time Nikki is joined by Dr Keith Lohse. Nikki is a Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver in the School of Kinesiology. She runs the Motor Skills Laboratory at UBC where she studies the mechanisms of motor skill learning. Her research focuses on processes involved in watching, learning and predicting from others, and how practice should be best structured to bring about long-term enhancement of motor skills and high-level performance. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and has consulted at a number of leading sporting organisations and governing bodies. Keith is Associate Professor of Physical Therapy and Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. He received his PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of Colorado, before undertaking post doctoral studies in Nikki’s lab at UBC. Keith focuses on measurement, design, and analysis as they pertain to rehabilitation science and clinical practice. With rehabilitation being a complex, dynamic process with many interacting factors at physiological, psychological, and sociological levels, Keith specialises in analytical and predictive modelling techniques to help disentangle these problems and mechanistically explore the rehabilitation process. In this episode, we discuss a paper Nikki and Keith have co-authored titled: “An extended challenge-based framework for practice design in sports coaching” found here https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357785323_An_extended_challenge-based_framework_for_practice_design_in_sports_coaching which builds on the original challenge-point work published 20 years ago. Specifically, they emphasise the importance of the challenge-point framework as a model of motor learning, and expand this framework to apply to sports coaching (giving practical suggestions for coaches to use in their practice).

I speak with Michael Passaportis and Dr Daniel Brown in this episode. Michael is a lecturer at the University of Sussex in Sport and Exercise Psychology. He is also completing his doctoral research at the University of Portsmouth. Michael’s research is centred on exploring the interconnectivity of human excellence and well-being within multidimensional organisational systems, with a specific focus on the psychosocial factors that influence thriving within elite sport organisations. Michael’s research interests are influenced by his past experiences of competing in professional rugby. Dan is a senior lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of Portsmouth and leads the undergraduate programme in Sport and Exercise Psychology there. He is a Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Dan’s research centres on the psychology of human excellence and well-being (thriving). Specifically, his focuses on understanding and facilitating thriving in humans, athlete transitions and developmental experiences, and the development and assessment of interventions used in sport and performance psychology. Dan also supervises doctoral students at Portsmouth University, Michael being one of those students. Michael and Dan have co-written a paper with others which is about creating environments for thriving which examines the environmental factors that facilitate athlete thriving. You can access the paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029222001157?via%3Dihub

I’m delighted to speak to Dr Leisha Strachan this week. Leisha is a Professor and is serving as Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management at the University of Manitoba. Leisha’s research is focused on positive youth development through sport and she is interested in exploring positive coaching behaviours and parent involvement. Along with Dr Dany MacDonald and Dr Jean Côté, Leisha began Project SCORE, an online resource for coaches and parents to learn about the 4 Cs in sport (competence, confidence, connection, and character) and how the Cs could be incorporated to promote positive youth sport spaces. Leisha is interested in cultural relevancy within the field of positive youth development and has recently completed a SSHRC-funded grant that explored the Cs through the voices of Indigenous youth.  Leisha is a former national team member in the sport of baton twirling, earning 2 bronze medals at the World Championships. She has been coaching in the sport for the past 26 years and is a judge and choreographer in baton, working with athletes across Canada, Scotland, England, and Australia.