The Sport Psych Show

I'm delighted to speak with Jen Harris this week. Jen is an expert in the field of parenting in youth sport. As the mother of a child athlete Jen was struck how little help there is for parents and decided to help change this. She undertook a Masters degree in Sport Psychology, the focus of which was parenting in youth sport. For her dissertation she created the Super-P Approach; an easy to teach...

In this episode I'm delighted to speak with Dr Paul Mansell and Dr Katie Sparks. Paul is a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Staffordshire University. Paul completed his PhD in 2023 at the University of Birmingham which investigated the role of trait beliefs in determining stress appraisals, performance and well-being. Paul continues to research in this area, with a specific focus on st...

I'm delighted to speak with Ben Freakley this week. Ben is a highly skilled and experienced sport psychology professional, helping athletes, coaches, and teams to achieve peak performance and reach their goals. Ben is also the founder of Ready. Set. Resilient. Ben has coached individuals, athletes, teams, soldiers, and businesses on the psychology of performance, leadership, team dynamics, and wel...

I'm delighted to speak with Matthew Layton this week. Matt is head of youth development phase at Swansea City Football Club. He manages the multidisciplinary staff departments and the players within the youth development phase to support and coordinate their pathway throughout the programme into the professional development phase. Matt and I discuss a brilliant paper he co-wrote with Dr Jamie Tayl...

I'm delighted to speak with Dr Sam Thrower this week. Sam is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Oxford Brookes University. His main research interests lie in the area of youth sport and specifically the psychosocial development of young athletes. He is particularly interested in topics such as parenting in sport, sport-confidence, motivational climates, stress and coping, and an...

I'm delighted to speak with  Dr Shakiba Moghadam this week. Shakiba is a chartered psychologist with a specific focus on community psychology, as well as sport and exercise psychology. Shakiba currently lectures in psychology and Sport and Exercise psychology at Solent University.   Shakiba graduated with a first-class honours degree in BSc Psychology from the University of Portsmouth and complete...

This week I'm delighted to speak to Dr Charlie Corsby, Prof Robyn Jones and Dr Andy Lane. Charlie is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Charlie holds a UEFA 'A' Licence coaching qualification. Alongside his academic responsibilities, Charlie is the Head Coach for Cardiff Met FC BUCS1 programme.​ The focus of Charlie's research relate to the everyday complexitie...

I'm delighted to speak with Prof Chris Harwood this week. Chris is the Director of the Sport, Health and Performance Enhancement (SHAPE) Research Centre at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). He is a Professor of Sport Psychology at NTU where his research focuses on the psychosocial aspects of athlete development, wellbeing and performance including the roles of the coach, parents, and the wider so...

I am delighted to welcome back  Dr Ian Peek in this episode. Ian has been a golf coach for 35 years. He is currently consulting with the Swiss Golf Federation supporting the coaches at national and regional level and supporting parents at some of the leading juniors in the country.   Ian helps his clients achieve their goals whether that's transitioning to a new level of achievement or maintaining...

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...

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 R...

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...

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, sat...

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 spo...

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 Behaviou...

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 intervention...

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, an...

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 w...

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...

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 award...

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...

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...

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 ph...

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...

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 bu...