The Coach Doctor Podcast

In this episode of The Coach Doctor Podcast I am joined by John McKee. John is a seasoned and globally respected rugby coach whose career has spanned club, provincial, and international levels. Known for his strategic mind, adaptability, and deep understanding of the game’s evolution, John has coached across diverse rugby cultures and led high-performance teams on the world stage, including coachi...

In this episode of the Coach Doctor Podcast, I speak with Steven Webster. Steven is a lifelong entrepreneur, technologist, martial artist and coach, and the CEO & Founder of ASENSEI, a technology that uses motion capture and human movement recognition software to power personalized health and fitness experiences. He holds a 4th degree black belt and two 2nd degree black belts in Ju Jitsu and K...

In this episode of the coach doctor podcast, I talk with Dr Andrew Higham. Andrew has recently been appointed as an Assistant Professor at Heriot Watt University in Scotland working in the areas of psychology and sport psychology. At the time of recording, he was a lecturer in sport psychology at Shefield Hallam University in England. He has published work in multiple academic journals including Q...

In this episode of The Coach Doctor Podcast I talk with Damian McGrath. Damian has been coaching professionally since 1990, starting his career coaching Rugby League in the UK and then making the switch to Rugby Union in the early 2000’s after taking on a skills coaching role with the Leicester Tigers. Since then, Damian has etched his mark in the modified form of Rugby as a 7’s specialist coach....

In this episode of The Coach Doctor podcast, I talk with Sam Miller, the CEO and founder of Proteus Motion. Proteus is a groundbreaking training system that has transformed the world of fitness and human performance. It has expanded the scope of quantifiable human movement from a limited 5%—primarily focused on vertical pushes and pulls like squats and deadlifts—to an astonishing 98%, encompassing...

Alicia Edge is the co-founder and principal dietician at Compeat Performance, a company that is revolutionising athlete nutrition and well-being through technology. Alicia is also the Lead performance dietician for the Matildas, the Australian Women’s Football team who won the hearts of millions for their performances at the 2023 FIFA World Cup. She has also held Nutritionist roles at the Australi...

Dr Marcus Hannon is the current lead performance Nutritionist at the Qatar Football Association. He has previously worked as a sports nutritionist in the English Premier League with Everton and Aston Villa, with professional boxers and in Professional Rugby Union Clubs. Marcus has a strong research record and his knowledge around the needs of youth athletes is extremely important because they are...

In this episode I talk with Rama Chand. Rama is the Director of Rugby Development at the Georgian Rugby Union. Previous to that Rama worked in multiple roles with Rugby Australia from Participation Pathway Manager and in Coach Education. He has held coaching roles with the Queensland Reds Super W team and the Queensland Reds Academy and many other teams along the way. He also has a degree in sport...

In this episode, I talk with Amy Shepherd. Amy is the current head coach and football development officer at the Sydney University Soccer Football Club. She is originally from Cambridgeshire England and has experience coaching with Norwich City in their regional development program, Watford FC women’s as well as coaching in New Jersey in the USA. She is now making her mark in Australia working acr...

In this episode I talk with Lee Addison owner of the online coaching website www.rugbyleaguecoach.com.au This website has rapidly become the biggest online rugby league coaching resource in the world! It’s a modern textbook for coaches, players and S&C coaches, with videos and PDFs giving tips and guidance, a bit like a Netflix but for Rugby League. It includes the Aim Higher program which is...

In this episode I speak with Dr Dianne Huxley who is the national performance pathways lead at Athletics Australia. She has a career in coaching and coach development spanning for over 30 years and has experience coaching from the grassroots to the Olympic level in Track and Field. Like many of my guests Di has taken on additional learning despite the experience she already held. We met at the Uni...

In this episode I speak with Dr Anthea Clarke and Dan Hawke. Dr Anthea Clarke is a senior lecturer in sport and exercise science at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. She has an extensive list of publications in sports science with a large number focusing specifically on female athletes. More recently she has developed a short course for coaches of female athletes called “Supporting the...

In this episode I speak with Dr Balin Cupples. Balin is the current Head of Performance at the One New Zealand Warriors National Rugby League team. Balin talks about his career moving from a youth development coach into the National Rugby League and the learnings he took along the way. We discuss his background from his Masters of Sports Coaching education to his PhD research at the University of...

Today’s guest is Professor Nicola Hodges, she is the Director of the Motor Skills Laboratory, within the School of Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Nicola’s field of research is in Behavioural Science, Motor control and Learning, and Sport Psychology. She has over 150 published journal articles, book chapters and edited books and has been cited over 7000 times...

On this episode I talk with England Rugby Union fullback Mike Brown. Mike has 72 appearances for England and 351 appearances for his former premiership club Harlequins as well as a handful of games for the Newcastle Falcons. Most recently Mike represented and Captained the Barbarians in a series of games coached by Crusaders coach Scott Razor Robertson. We talk about Mike's transition into reitrem...

Courtney Brackenrig is a recent graduate working in the sports science field and former elite athlete with the Australian Institute of Sport. We discuss her educational pathway, her experiences as an athlete and the importance of volunteering to create opportunities within the industry. Courtney also discusses how she continues to learn from a range of mentors and the importance of balance in the...

In this episode I talk to Ben Darwin from Gain Line Analytics. Ben is a former Wallabies and ACT Brumbies Prop who played during a very successful era for Australian Rugby. Since retiring due to injury Ben has gone on to coach in the Shute Shield, Super Rugby and the Japanese Top League before forging a career for himself in cohesion analytics. Ben breaks down what cohesion in the team setting is...

In this episode I talk to Reuben Williams and Ryan Walker from Sports Grad, if you’re not sure who these guys are then check out "the Sportsgrad Podcast" the number 1 careers podcast on itunes and you will find them helping people getting jobs in sport. I thought this conversation would be a great way to help coaches and performance staff develop their careers and opportunities in sport by taking...

In this episode I speak with Grant Doorey. Grant is a career coach who has spent over 25 years in professional coaching and coached at 4 rugby world cups, the French top 14, the English premiership and Super Rugby to name a few. Grant discusses his journey and some of the learnings along the way. We discuss coaching across three different continents and cultures, language barriers and the sacrific...

Greg is a coach at the community level in Rugby Union and he really wants to help community coaches develop by sharing his thoughts and opinions around coaching at this level of the game. Some of the issues community coaches have to deal with is player availability, player work commitments, finding volunteers to assist with running grassroots clubs, opportunities for professional development plus...

In this episode I talk to Dr Mitch Hewitt, who is the National Youth Programs Manager at Tennis Australia. Mitch completed his PhD at the University of Southern Queensland and studied the teaching styles of tennis coaches in Australia using the Spectrum of Teaching Styles as the theoretical framework for his research. He has published multiple papers and presented at many Coaching and Physical Edu...

Kyle is the owner of The Coaching Gig, a business that specializes in coach development and coach education. Kyle has worked with multiple sports organisations across New Zealand and Australia and his mantra is to help 'people thrive on and off the field.' He is also a bit of a musician playing the guitar, drums and piano as well as being able to sing very well. This interview definitely brought u...

On this episode I talk to Associate Professor Kate Pumpa. Kate is a lecturer and researcher in the fields of exercise physiology and sports nutrition at the University of Canberra. She is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist and Advanced Accredited Sports Dietitian. Kate completed her PhD at the Australian Institute of Sport in 2008 and has been working as a sports dietician practitioner for almost...

This week I speak with Dave Reynolds who is in charge of Coach Development in the South Australian National Football League. Dave was recommended to me from Professor Shane Pill as an absolutely brilliant coach development practitioner and he has not let me down. Dave is a passionate coach developer aiming to implement and improve coaching on a number of levels in his beloved sport of Australian R...

Professor Chris Cushion is currently the head of coaching at England Netball and a professor of coaching and pedagogy at the famous Loughborough university in England. When it comes to the coaching environment, practice and coach behaviours Chris is one of the most prominent researchers in this space with over 100 publications and over 8000 citations from other authors and researchers. One of the...