In this episode I’m delighted to welcome back Prof Mark Williams and Prof Nicola Hodges to speak about skill acquisition in sport. Mark Williams is a Senior Research Scientist at The Institute of Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC)- a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System and is affiliated with several Florida universities. Mark was previously at the University of Utah, where he was professor and chairman of the Department of Health, Kinesiology, and Recreation....

I’m delighted to speak with Dr Daniel Fortin-Guichard this week. Daniel works as a Postdoc fellow at the University of Toronto where he specialises in talent identification research through psychological characteristics. Daniel received his PhD from Université Laval in psychology with a specialty in perceptual-cognitive skills in sports. In parallel with his thesis, Daniel worked with the Quebec Remparts hockey team as an advisor to the scouting staff. Each year, Daniel travelled the...

In this episode I’m joined by Dr Keith McShan and Dr Whitney Moore. We talk about coach-athlete relationships. Keith is Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Missouri State University. Before joining MSU, Keith was an active high school basketball and football coach in Canada. Keith has worked for organisations such as Football Canada, Duke University Men’s Basketball Camp, and the Corporation of the City of Windsor. Keith is an active member of the North American Society for the Psychology...

I’m excited to speak with Dr Mark Aoyagi this week. Mark is the Co-Director of the Master’s programme in Sport and Performance Psychology and Professor in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver. He is also the founder of the Center for Performance Excellence. Mark’s areas of expertise include performance excellence, team effectiveness, and achieving meaning, satisfaction and fulfilment through sport, work, and life. He is a recognised sport psychology...

In this episode I’m joined by Dr Alison Maitland and Jenna Ashford to talk about their new book “Drop the Struggle: A Transformative Approach to Achieving Your Potential in Sport and Life”. Alison is a widely recognised and experienced HCPC registered and BASES accredited Sport Psychologist. She has a PhD in elite sport and uses her expertise in human performance in a wide range of settings in sport and businesses around the world. Alison has helped elite athletes achieve World Championship...

In this episode I’m joined by Dr James Munnik and Prof Leon Van Niekerk. James is a Counselling Psychology Lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. James has worked with a number of athletes in his own private practice as a high performance mental coach in psychotherapy and counselling. He has special interests in sport/exercise psychology research and Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT) theory and practice. Leon is a Professor of Psychology at University of Fort...

On this week’s episode I speak to Dr Chris Mesagno. Chris is a sport psychologist, a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Victoria University, and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University.  Chris has over 20 years of research expertise in stress, anxiety, attention and concentration skills and has successfully developed theory-matched interventions to improve performance for highly anxious and “choking-susceptible” athletes. Chris also...

In this episode I’m joined by Dr Ella McLoughlin and Dr Rachel Arnold. We discuss a paper that was led by Ella which examines how stressors influence sport performers’ health, well-being, and performance. Ella is a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. Her research interests span the topics of lifetime stressor exposure, the enhancement of health, well-being, and performance, and psychophysiological responses to acute stressors among athletes. Ella is a...

I’m excited to speak with Dr Steve Ingham this week. Steve has spent his career immersed in high performance having provided support to over 1000 athletes, of which over 200 have achieved World or Olympic medal success, including some of the world’s greatest athletes such as Jessica Ennis-Hill, Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent. He also coached Kelly Sotherton to Olympic and World medal winning success. Steve worked at the British Olympic Association as the Sports Science Manager...

I’m joined by Dr Jon Rhodes in this episode. Jon is an Associate Lecturer in Motivational Psychology and Sport Psychology at the University of Plymouth. Jon is also a Chartered Cognitive Psychologist and is co-developer of Functional Imagery Training (FIT) which is a unique approach to behaviour change that uses mental imagery to motivate change. FIT teaches people new ways of thinking about their immediate future to help them stay motivated as they achieve each small step towards their...

I’m delighted to speak to Dr Carla Edwards in this week’s episode. Carla is a psychiatrist whose practice focuses on the treatment of mental illness and psychological struggles in athletes.   Carla completed her Bachelor of Science and Masters’ degrees in Chemistry at Mount Allison University. While completing her degrees, she also competed on their varsity volleyball team, accumulating such awards as Conference Rookie of the Year and First Team All Star for each of her five years of...

I’m delighted to speak to licensed clinical and sport psychologist, Dr Mitch Greene in this week’s episode. Mitch is Adjunct Instructor in Temple University’s College of Public Health. He completed his PhD in clinical psychology and worked in family therapy before moving into sport psychology. He is now the sport psychology consultant to several athletic departments, endurance coaches and national race series.  Mitch has written a fantastic book from his time both as a sport psychologist and...

I’m delighted to speak to Dr Billy Low in this week’s episode. Billy is Assistant Professor at the School of Sport and Exercise at Heriot-Watt University. Billy completed his PhD at the University of Essex on the topic of pressure training. We take a deep dive into pressure training and discuss a fascinating paper Billy led on the subject along with Dr Mike Stoker, Prof Joanne Butt and Prof Ian Maynard entitled “Pressure Training: From Research to Applied Practice”. The purpose of the paper...

In this episode I’m joined by Dr Brendan SueSee and Dr Shane Pill. We continue the conversation on the spectrum of teaching styles from episode 232. 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...

I’m delighted to welcome back licensed clinical psychologist and sport psychologist, Dr Scott Goldman in this episode. Scott started out at the University of Arizona where was one of the first embedded sport psychologists in an athletic department. He has since served as a clinical and performance psychologist for the University of Michigan and Saint Louis’ Athletic Departments. Scott also helped co-author the best practices for the NCAA and was part of their first mental health task...

This week I’m delighted to speak to Cailie McGuire and Dr Daniel Brown about thriving in sport. Cailie is in her final year of her PhD at Queen’s University. Her research interest is in sport psychology, specifically team dynamics: looking at how teammates interact with one another and how that influences individual and collective outcomes. Cailie’s PhD specifically focuses on the importance of building trust between teammates, coaches and support staff to promote athlete thriving. Dan is a...

I’m delighted to speak to Dr Andrew Kirkland in this week’s episode. Andrew is a Lecturer in Sports Coaching at the University of Stirling. He is also a member of the General University Ethics Panel, a Chartered Scientist and a BASES Accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist (support & pedagogy). Andrew has worked as a sport physiologist and coach developer at British Cycling and supports others in developing performance environments. Andrew's research philosophy is driven by impact and...

I’m delighted to welcome Dr Jerry Lynch and John O’Sullivan back to the show. Jerry is a performance, leadership and coaching expert helping people of all ages and abilities in all arenas of performance to develop the qualities of courage, integrity, fearlessness, tenacity, patience, persistence in order to overcome mental and emotional blocks. Jerry helps individuals and teams to create confidence, mental toughness, inspiration and empowerment for competitive events and to better navigate...

I’m delighted to speak to Dr Elizabeth King in this week’s episode. Elizabeth is recognised as a one of Australia’s leading authorities on leadership development. Over the last three decades, she has worked as an advisor, mentor, executive coach, and facilitator, focusing on organisational, team and individual performance in disruptive contexts. Elizabeth has worked with some of the region’s biggest companies, designing and delivering solutions that build the competencies and culture...

In this episode, I’m delighted to be joined by Prof Marc Jones, Dr Carla Meijen and Dr Martin Turner. We discuss The Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes (TCTSA) which provides a psychophysiological framework for how athletes anticipate motivated performance situations. Marc led the original research, along with Carla, in 2009 proposing this theory. Marc, Carla and Martin have conducted many years of research on Challenge and Threat states within a number of competitive...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...