The Athlete Development Show

Host one of Craig's talks at your club or school Sign-up to receive Craig's free newsletter Coach, writer, educator, pioneer in skill acquisition and deliciously inquisitive guy Austin Einhorn ( @apiros.team ) rejoins me for another episode of The Curious Mind. In this one we discuss being a reflective coach, building rapport with your athletes, important questions to develop your awaren...

Host one of Craig's talks at your club or school Sign-up to receive Craig's free newsletter Tom Willmott ( @tomwillmott ) is the head coach of the park and pipe program at Snow Sports New Zealand . Tom leads a team of coaches that looks after ~20 athletes from the very elite, including winter olympic gold medalists Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous, to 11 and 12 year olds in the nat...

Jamie Salter ( @jay_salter ) is a researcher and senior lecturer in sport science and Injury at York St John University where he delivers theory and practical based sessions to undergraduate and postgraduate students in the areas of injury prevention, rehabilitation and strength and conditioning. Jamie is also an accredited Strength and Conditioning coach and Sport Scientist and has worked in phys...

On the show today I chat with Shaun Matthews, Community Coaching Advisor at Harbour Sport . We dig into: The importance of a coaching philosophy; What Shaun has learnt about talent; Coaching mindset; Developing self-reliant learners; Balance;  And much more. Please enjoy the show. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts . It takes less than 60 seconds and...

Youth sport coaches are undervalued. In this conversation, Dr Vince Minjares ( @PlayerLearning ) tells us why and how we can go about changing it. Vince leads game and coach development at Harbour Basketball, on the North Shore of Auckland, and holds a PhD in Coaching and Pedagogy. Please enjoy the show. Kia ora! If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts ....

Feedback is not just about what is said but what is heard. In this conversation, Jamie Taylor ( @JTGreyMatterUK ) tells us more. Jamie is a senior coach developer at Grey Matters , an evidence-based organisation that consults across a wide range of sports to raise their game. Prior to this, Jamie coached at Leicester Tigers for 7 years, developed coaches at the English Institute of Sport and taugh...

Professor Arne Güllich is a sports scientist and researcher at Technical University of Kaiserslautern, in Germany. He's published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, including his latest paper "What Makes a Champion? Early Multidisciplinary Practice, Not Early Specialization, Predicts World-Class Performance" , and has coached across multiple levels in sport for number of years. In thi...

We all know the benefits of sporting success. But what happens when it all goes wrong?  Kimberly Carducci grew up engrossed in sport and started breaking records in the pool as a 6-year-old. Winning felt good and Kim quickly wanted more of it. As a D1 swimmer in the US, Kim was a 4-time State Champion, 4-time Scholastic All-American, 4-time All-State Selection and an 8-time All-American honoree. B...

Kathryn Berkett - Raising Resilience On the show today is neuroscience educator , Kathryn Berkett. Kathryn delivers information about the brain to a variety of groups including teachers, parents, mental health professionals, corporates and, more recently, sports organisations. Kathryn has her Masters in Educational Psychology, is a certified Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics practitioner and a...

Des Ryan - Strong Young Gunners Des is the Director of Coaching and Performance at Setanta College - a provider of online Strength & Conditioning and Athletic Development education. Prior to this, Des spent 8 years at Arsenal Football where he led the Sports Medicine and Athletic Development department for the club's Academy. Des cut his strength and conditioning teeth working with Irish...

Courtney McGregor - What Adversity Can Teach Us At 12:41 pm on Tuesday 22nd of February 2011, a major earthquake hit Christchurch killing 185 people. Located 6.7 kilometres south-east of the city centre, the shake caused widespread damage across Christchurch, changing life as people knew it. Artistic gymnast Courtney McGregor (@_courtneymcgregor_) , was 12 at the time. Courtney remembers the earth...

Jay Thooft - Mindset Matters Today we hear from a coach of the mind, Jay Thooft ( @trainwithperc ).  Jay is dedicated to providing developing athletes with the tools necessary to elevate their mental game and perform in the face of stress, pressure, and adversity. Currently, he oversees the mental performance training for 16 organisations in the Greater Denver area in the US and impacts approximat...

Brooke Neal - Finding Balance Brooke was an independent and stubborn kid growing up. She knew what she wanted and was highly driven to go out and get it.  Chasing her dream of elite sporting success, Brooke first made the New Zealand Blacks Sticks as a 19-year-old.  But it wasn't what she expected.  Instead of fame and fortune, it was a massive struggle. She was training harder than ever befo...

Train Smarter, Not Harder Today's conversation is with double Olympian, Anna Simcic.  Anna represented NZ at two Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games where she won a gold and two silver medals in the backstroke. She was consistently ranked in the top 10 in the world and in 1992 when she set a short-course world record.  Anna now works for High Performance Sport NZ as an Athlete Life Advisor....

Connection is Key On the show today I chat with former international cricketer, Andrew Ellis. Andrew played first-class cricket for Canterbury from 2003 until 2020 and represented his country in both the One Day and Twenty20 formats of the game. Andrew is now a dad of two young children and works for High-Performance Sport New Zealand as the manager of the Christchurch region. In this conversation...

Tennis Fit Howard Green ( @HGreenTennisFit ) is a strength and conditioning coach working in tennis. He coordinates the sports science and medicine team at Bolton Arena International Tennis Academy and works privately with many up and coming and elite players, including Ana Ivanovic. Prior to his work in sport, Howard was a Commando in the Royal Marines. After completing his basic training just ou...

Talent Is Not Objective Dr Alex Roberts ( @AlexHRoberts ) teaches at La Trobe University in Australia and conducts research focusing on skill acquisition, talent identification and the science of coaching. In this conversation, Alex and I discuss her childhood growing up as a high-achieving Aussie, her journey as an athlete in the NCAA system and her fascinating PhD research that sheds new light o...

Movement is Life   Aaron ( @movement_yoda ) works at Apiros , a movement culture based in Santa Cruz, California, where he connects with athletes from developmental level to the professional. Aaron graduated from the University of California Davis with a degree in Genetics before going on to earn a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Azusa Pacific University.  He then did a 9-month residency pr...

Using Science to Help People Daniel Greenwood ( @DanielGreenw00d ) is a scientist. He spends his days with athletes, coaches and other service providers solving interesting problems in sport. Dan started his sport science journey in Sydney as an undergraduate student. After earning his degree he moved to Canberra to complete postgraduate study at the Australian Institute of Sport. Next, Dan broade...

Reflections on the first 99 Shows Wow! 100 Epidoses! It's been awesome! Today, with the help of my good friend Dan Cooke ( @cooke_dm ), I take a look back on what I've learnt from the first 99 shows. A massive THANK YOU to you all for sticking with me and I look forward to sharing many more episodes with you. If you have any burning questions you'd like tackled on future shows or gu...

Ben Pullen - Using Strength-Based Activities to Empower Children Ben Pullen ( bpullen_coach ) is a PhD student in Paediatric Strength and Conditioning in the Youth Physical Development Centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University. His research investigates the effect of Strength and Conditioning in Physical Education on the athletic motor skill competencies and psychological constructs of school chil...

My kōrero today is with Mike Schofield ( @rotationalperf ).  Mike grew up on a farm in Castlepoint, half an hour out of Masterton on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. He was raised by working-class parents who held fairly typical rural beliefs - you know, be courteous, respect your elders, work hard.  Mike loved sport and spent his formative years playing golf. And a lot of it. By...

"Locking back now, when I was younger I had an ability that my body couldn’t cope with. I had the ability to express a lot of force and speed and I was physically not able to cope with it. Also, technically I wasn’t that great when I was younger."    - Chris Donaldson This is a story of the relentless pursuit of excellence. It's also about empathy, and why in sport, you don't g...

Today's conversation is something different. In episode 75 of the show, I spoke with Austin Einhorn, founder of Apiros , a movement culture out of Santa Cruz in California. Austin works with a range of youth and professional athletes within the US and around the world. In that conversation, we dug into designing training environment for better movement outcomes, the future of sport and perfor...

Nothing beats time spent practising to develop a skill. Getting better requires doing the work. But practice doesn't go the distance unless it's self-motivated. Inner drive is crucial to realising potential - I've seen it play out countless times in aspiring athletes. And there's no better example than David Gerrard - a man who swam for NZ at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Growing up...