Talking Performance

This week I am joined by Mike Rogers, a local rugby coach who has done it the hard way. Mike doesn't have a professional playing background, he has made his way up through the grades, initially coaching club rugby, before coaching representative age group teams and from there moving on to be part of the Bay of Plenty Steamers coaching group in 2019 and 2020. Despite success with the Bay he wa...

This week I am joined by Dr Andrew Wilson from Leeds Beckett University in the UK. Andrew is a Kiwi from Invercargill who gained a PhD from Indiana University in 2005 in Psychology.  In this chat we chat about ecological psychology and dynamical systems in both academic terms and also in practical terms as Andrew talks about the skills of All Black Dan Carter and how he might perceive the world an...

This week I am delighted to have with me, host of the Talent Equation Podcast, Stuart Armstrong.  Stuart's podcast was the first podcast I really got addicted to and have been a fan of it ever since, so I was both excited and nervous about this chat. Stuart has an amazing amount of knowledge but what actually shines through for me in this chat is his passion around coach development and his w...

This week I am joined by Zane Winslade from Flowsport Mental Performance . Zane has been working in the mental skills space for a number of years and has worked with a wide range of athletes and teams across various sports.  Recently he has created a journal designed for young athletes to assist them with their mental skills journal and to start developing habits that will help them later in life....

This week I am joined by Black Ferns 7s Star Gayle Broughton and Black Ferns 7s Coach Cory Sweeney The Black Ferns 7s is one of the great sporting stories in NZ history and they have created something that they can not only be proud of both on and off the field, but have also shown what can be achieved with a clear plan and vision.  Gayle's story is unique, it hasn't come easy for her an...

Tonight I am joined by Putaruru legend Kyle McLean, Kyle has his own company www.thecoachinggig.com where he specialises in coach development and is widely respected throughout New Zealand I could listen to Kyle talk for hours, his passion is infectious and you can really hear the energy he has for this space. This was a great chat with a lot of actionable learning in there, not only for coaches ,...

Tonight I am joined by Gordon Walker and Christian Penny. Gordon has achieved a huge amount of success in his coaching career with Canoe Racing NZ, most notably with NZ's most successful Olympian, 5 x Gold Medallist, Lisa Carrington. Christian is the leader of the Coach Accelerator Program with High Performance Sport NZ and has been assisting Gordon and his team with their Olympic campaign. C...

This week I am joined by Rich Masters. Rich is a professor at Waikato University in New Zealand who studied experimental Psychology and has an interest in psychological markers of the way in which people learn and perform skills.  Rich has completed research in implicit motor learning that shows you can learn real life movement skills with little or no conscious access to the knowledge that underl...

Here is something a little different. I was listening to this episode the other day and I really loved this particular 15 minutes and decided I wanted to share it with you all. Obviously I thought the whole episode was great and you can  go back and listen to it as I'm sure even if you have you will still pick up some new things, much like I did.  I hope you enjoy Send us Fan Mail Support the...

This week I am joined by Olympian Sara Winther. Sara competed in the 2012 Olympics in London and after failing to qualify for Rio went on to help an Irish sailor who won the silver medal in Rio. Since then Sara has started studying psychology so like I said to her this is a collection of Athlete, Coach and Mental Skills.  Sara speaks to the importance of trust and connection with athletes and the...

I'm joined this week by a pretty unique dude, Isaac Giesen. Isaac became the first Kiwi to row solo across the Atlantic (In fact the first Kiwi to row solo over any ocean) in around 70 days as a way of honouring and bringing awareness to mental health after he lost his Aunty and two friends to suicide. Isaac has dyslexia and ADHD and has faced his share of battles but he has an awesome outloo...

I'm joined this week by Chiefs and NZ Maori All Blacks Coach Clayton McMillan. Prior to his coaching he played for one club, Whakarewarewa and one province in New Zealand, Bay of Plenty, for whom he played 113 games. Clayton has enjoyed a lot of success over a number of years with different teams, from Wellington U19 team that won the first Jock Hobbs Trophy through to a successful year this...

In this episode I am joined by Carl Sheridan who is a self proclaimed "average guy". Carlis anything but an average guy, he is open, honest and leads with beautiful vulnerability. There is so much gold in this session and based on the messages I received I think Carls vulnerability struck a chord with a lot of the community tonight.  Carl loves connecting with people and would love to he...

My guest this week is Jonny McMurtry.  Jonny has been involved in high performance age grade rugby programs across Australia for over 10 years. He is currently completing research in conjunction with University of QLD and Rugby Australia, looking at age grade player's engagement and understanding what motivates, engages and drives players' participation. He also shares coaching concepts...

My guest this week is Damian Farrow. Damian has worked with a range of AIS and National sports programs including the AFL, Cricket Australia, Tennis Australia, Netball Australia, Surfing Australia, the Australian Rugby Union and Swimming Australia. Damian now works in AFL (Aussie Rules) as the Umpires Coaching and Innovations Manager and still holds a position at the Victoria University in Melbour...

Mark Bennett MBE is a coach developer and has his company PDS Coaching where he works with sport from grassroots right through to high performance and also with business's in the corporate world Mark has spent the last 30 years developing robust and scalable strategies and tools to help organisations, teams and individuals maximise the performance potential of themselves and the people they a...

This week I am joined by Dan Hillier who is preparing for The Open Championship  at Royal St Georges after qualifying for his second major. He played in the 2019 US Open at Pebble Beach as an amateur and this is his first major as a professional.  Dan has come come up through the ranks in the Golf New Zealand system and made very post a winner. He has a great attitude and this is no doubt due to t...

This week I am delighted to be joined by world leading performance coach Owen Eastwood,  Owen hails from Otatara a small community on the outskirts of Invercargill New  Zealand, though now lives with his family in the UK. Owen has worked with some of the top sporting and business organisations the world over, including the South African Cricket Team, the England Football team (currently competing...

This week I chat with Wellington Firebirds Coach, Glenn Pocknall. Glenn has progressed through the coaching ranks with intentionality, a strong desire to learn, challenge himself and be the best he can be. Glenn didn't play first class cricket and like RJ Smith said is a great example of a performance coach not having a performance background but has the different skill sets that are required...

Richard (RJ) Smith is a consultant to coaches having previously had roles with High Performance Sport New Zealand, Crusaders Rugby as Leader of High Performance before moving on to High Performance Coach Developer at NZ Cricket. RJ has a wealth of knowledge in the coaching  and leadership space and this conversation has plenty of gold nuggets for coaches to be curious about. Despite being in the i...

Des is currently assistant coach for Melbourne City FC in the A-League and is arguably one of New Zealand's best coaches. Des achieved huge success in the U20's program in New Zealand, taking the team to the round of 16 at the world cup only to miss out in a penalty shoot out and then led the U23 team to NZ Footballs first and only gold medal at the Pacific Games. Des talks about how he...

Tonight we are joined by All Black Captain Sam Cane. Sam has played over 70 games for the All Blacks and was recently made captain.  During this chat we talk about some of Sam's strategies for dealing with pressure, what he believes it takes to make it at the highest level and what advice he would give to younger players. I love the honesty and clarity with which Sam answers the questions, he...

Tonight we are joined by another Irishman, Ed Coughlan who is a Skill Acquisition Specialist with a PhD in Skill Acquisition. I am a massive fan of the way Ed thinks about the world and in particular learning skill  During this chat we talk about some of the conventional way in which skills are taught and Ed challenges some of that thinking and offers some great alternatives. I particularly love h...

Tonight we are joined by Daragh Sheridan from HPSNZ (High Performance Sport New Zealand) Daragh leads the coaching team at HPSNZ whose purpose is to enhance the impact of High Performance Coaches in the performance environment. Daragh is originally from Galway, Ireland and has been in New Zealand with his young family for the last 2 and half years and has already had a massive impact in his space....

Season 3 continues tonight with  one of the countries leading mental skills coaches, John Quinn.  John is the Mental Skills Coach for The Crusaders Rugby Team one of rugby's most successful teams as well as supporting many of the countries leading athletes across a variety of sports. I have been fortunate to work with John over the last few years and have learnt so much from every session and...