The Athlete Development Show

"One of the most awkward parts of my sessions is when I say to parents, I’d like you just to turn to one another and practice what you’re going to say to your kids when you get the email saying they’re dropped... because parents don’t want to think about that moment." This conversation is with Richard Shorter ( @nonperfectdad ), a conversation architect and non-perfect dad. Richard works...

Richard Cheetham ( @twowheelprof ) is a Senior Fellow in Sports Coaching at the University of Winchester. Before that, he spent three years teaching and coaching in New Zealand.  Richard was awarded an MBE for his work in Community Education and Sport. He has a strong reputation for creative thinking and innovation within coach education and development and has spent time inside many sporting orga...

This conversation is with Anna Frost, a mum, a coach, a mentor and a professional mountain, trail and ultra runner, who has raced all over the world. Since starting out in 2004, Anna has assembled a long list of running achievements, including winning Hardrock, a 100-mile race across the Colorado mountains in the US, two years in a row. In this conversation, Annas shares her journey from growing u...

This conversation is with Dr Matt Whalan , a partner at Figtree Physiotherapy in the Wollongong area in Australia. You can find Matt on Twitter @figtreephysio . Matt also holds a number of practical roles, including Medical and High-performance Manager for the Wollongong Wolves FC and Physiotherapist for the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) National Teams Unit. Matt earned his PhD in 2020, f...

This conversation is with Dr Katie Cunningham , an Associate Professor of Literacy and English Education at Manhattanville College where she teaches literacy methods, teacher research, and children’s literature courses. Katie is the author of "Start With Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness" and "Story: Still the Heart of Literacy Learning." She is the co-auth...

“The way that the lessons were set up, they were very much around the sharing and the conversation of ideas. So, if I look back now, it was almost like a campfire conversation you would have, you know, when you think about the learning that was shared, before we ever went to formal learning... The things that I fondly remember were those types of sessions of conversation, learning together, workin...

This conversation is with Dr Andrew Hill, a Professor in Sports Psychology at York St John University in the UK. Andy's main areas of interest are the consequences of perfectionism (an achievement-related personality trait) for athletes, exercisers, and youth sport participants. Andy holds a PhD in the area and has published in leading journals in sport and exercise psychology, health and gen...

This conversation is with Sam McKenzie, Coaching Content and Learning Lead at the AFL. Prior to this, Sam was the Junior Coach Development Manager at Auckland Rugby. In 2019, Sam completed his Master's degree at AUT University focusing on 1st XV rugby players' perceptions of their coaching environment. In this conversation, Sam provides his well-informed thoughts on the recent media atte...

This conversation in with Michael Jennings, Director of Healthy Body at Athlos Education , where he provides virtual and on-site professional development and support for physical educators. He is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist. With a Master’s Degree in both secondary education and exercise physiology, Michael specialises in physical literacy, long term athletic development...

This conversation in with Dr Paul Read , an accredited strength and conditioning coach and clinical researcher at a specialised Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital in Qatar. His expertise lies in the assessment strategies of lower limb neuromuscular control and injury risk factors. Paul has worked with youth, professional and international athletes in a range of sports including football, ath...

“What we identified was that is was the relatively younger players and later-maturing individuals who were actually more successful at getting League Super appearances.”   - Professor Kevin Till In this episode, I chat with Kevin Till, a Professor in the Carnegie School of Sport at Leeds Beckett University . His expertise lies in athletic development, strength and conditioning, coaching and sport...

This conversation in with Chris Juneau, a Qualified Physiotherapist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) who has worked with athletes from junior to the professional level. Chris is currently completing a Masters of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Science at AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand. You can find Chris @Chris_Juneau3 on Twitter or at 'In Good Hands Physiothera...

This conversation is with Dr Joe Eisenmann, a translator of scientific knowledge working ‘in the trenches’ with youth athletes and their coaches every day.   He is also a scholar in paediatric sports science.   Joe has a diverse skill set that includes exercise physiology, human growth and maturation, epidemiology, talent identification, data science and strength and conditioning.  Now a visiting...

“Everyone is a hero in life, everyone's got a story to tell, everyone's had to face and overcome adversity. And on that basis, being kind just seems like an obvious thing to do.”  This conversation in with Chris Bullen, a leader in coach development at High Performance Sport New Zealand. Chris has been working in education and sport for 45 years. In that time, he's provided educatio...

This conversation is with Dr Micheál Cahill, Vice President of Performance and Sport Science at Athlete Training and Health in the US. He is also an expert in athletic development. Originally from Ireland, Micheál has spent time working with hundreds of athletes across a broad range of sports from amateur to professional level. His doctoral research examines the development of sprinting speed in y...

“We’re looking at long-term athlete development, and that requires a lot of patience, coaching and structure to the programme where performance isn’t the end goal. But equally, they also need to cope, if given the opportunity, with first team training, or even playing.” On the show today, I chat with Lead Academy Strength & Conditioning […] The post Ep 79: Paudie Roche – The Arsenal Way appear...

“If you focus on what’s important to you and your standards, then that’s really the only thing that should matter… finding your own path and how you do it, I think is just so important.” On the show today I chat with international cricketer, Sophie Devine. Sophie made her first class debut for Wellington at […] The post Ep 78- Sophie Devine – Passion, purpose and playing cricket for New Zealand ap...

“I have a kid who could be a pretty good athlete, but if he gets a 97 on a test, his parents ride him because he didn’t get 100… to the point that he’s so completely stressed that we spend a lot of our time doing things that help him change his mindset, so that […] The post Ep 77- Rick Howard – Professor and Expert Youth Fitness Coach appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show

“Relationships are the biggest thing for me. Building relationships and rapport with students is going to create a much more joyful experience for them than probably anything else I can do in my class.” On the show today, I chat with P.E. teacher and PhD student, Peter Verdin. Peter is currently employed as a ‘movement […] The post EP 76- Peter Verdin – Movement Engineering appeared first on AUT M...

ADS 075: Austin Einhorn – Movement Banking “Almost every session, whether the client I’m with is 13 or 36, or if they’re a high school athlete who doesn’t want to play in college or they’re a professional athlete, I start with… ‘Hey, what do you want to do today?'” On the show today, I chat […] The post Ep 75 – Austin Einhorn – Movement Banking appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support...

ADS 074: Dan Exeter – Early specialisation, the modern day sports parent, and formalising informality. On the show today, I chat with Sport and Exercise Physician and father of two, Dan Exeter. Dan is based at Axis Sports Medicine on the North Shore in Auckland, where he specialises in injury prevention and rehabilitation of athletes […] The post Ep 74 -Dan Exeter – Early specialisation, the moder...

“I think I learnt from quite a young age that I was able to really become more reflective and make more sense of the world at times if I just found my own space, and took an opportunity each day to just be alone for a bit.” On the show today, I chat with endurance […] The post Ep 73- Dougal Allan- Dreaming big, the art of reflection, and becoming the Coast to Coast champion appeared first on AUT M...

“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower. ” On the show today, I chat with sport psychologist and researcher, Dr Mustafa Sarkar. Mustafa works at Nottingham Trent University in the UK where he is a senior lecturer and researcher, focusing on the psychology of sporting excellence […] The post EP 72- Mustafa Sarkar – How to create psychological resilien...

“You can rely on talent up until a certain time, whatever talent is, but it’s not going to make you the best in the world. Even though in my late teenage years I had a good amount of support behind me, I didn’t understand what I had to be doing and how to utilise that […] The post EP 71- Tim Driesen – High Performance Athlete Development Leader at Athletics New Zealand appeared first on AUT Millen...

“If you not keeping them around because your training sux, or you’re not a good guy to hang out with, then you don’t get the opportunity to have everything that you know happen.” On the show today, I chat with Matt Hunter, Director of Youth Sports Performance at Athletic Lab in North Carolina, US. Matt […] The post EP 70 – Matt Hunter – Director of Youth Sports Performance at Athletic Lab appeared...