The Sport Psych Show

I'm delighted to speak to Dr Andrew Kirkland in this week's episode. Andrew is a Lecturer in Sports Coaching at the University of Stirling. He is also a member of the General University Ethics Panel, a Chartered Scientist and a BASES Accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist (support & pedagogy). Andrew has worked as a sport physiologist and coach developer at British Cycling and supports others in...

I'm delighted to welcome Dr Jerry Lynch and John O'Sullivan back to the show. Jerry is a performance, leadership and coaching expert helping people of all ages and abilities in all arenas of performance to develop the qualities of courage, integrity, fearlessness, tenacity, patience, persistence in order to overcome mental and emotional blocks. Jerry helps individuals and teams to create confidenc...

I'm delighted to speak to Dr Elizabeth King in this week's episode. Elizabeth is recognised as a one of Australia's leading authorities on leadership development. Over the last three decades, she has worked as an advisor, mentor, executive coach, and facilitator, focusing on organisational, team and individual performance in disruptive contexts. Elizabeth has worked with some of the region's bigge...

In this episode, I'm delighted to be joined by Prof Marc Jones, Dr Carla Meijen and Dr Martin Turner. We discuss The Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes (TCTSA) which provides a psychophysiological framework for how athletes anticipate motivated performance situations. Marc led the original research, along with Carla, in 2009 proposing this theory. Marc, Carla and Martin have conduct...

I'm delighted to speak to educator and author Doug Lemov on this week's episode. Doug is a former teacher and school principal. Doug's international bestselling book "Teach like a Champion", now in its third edition, describes techniques used by exceptional teachers. It has sold more than a million copies and is responsible for transforming classrooms around the world. In his book "The Coach's Gui...

This week I'm delighted to speak to Dr Kathryn Johnston and Prof Joe Baker. Kathryn currently works at the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York University, Canada as a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow. She teaches a business administration in sport course, and a sport psychology course. Kathryn previously worked with student athletes from a developmental and wellness perspective suppo...

This week I'm delighted to speak to Prof Andrew Lane and Prof Greg Whyte OBE. Greg is an Olympian in modern pentathlon, and is a European and World Championship medallist. Greg is a Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moore's University and Director of Performance at the Centre for Health and Human Performance. Greg's former roles include Director of Research for the...

I'm excited to speak with Dr Peter Sear in this episode. Peter is the founder of The Empathic Minds Organisation, a company working with coaches and leaders to help their teams and organisations achieve their needs and goals. Specifically assisting in areas such as increasing productivity; developing great leadership; developing cohesive teams; and improving communication.   Peter has a background...

I'm delighted to speak with Dr Robin Taylor and Dr Jamie Taylor in this episode. Jamie is a senior coach developer at Grey Matters, a company specialising in performance enhancement and coaching development for individuals, sporting/cultural organisations and systems. Jamie is also Assistant Professor at Dublin City University working on their Performance programmes. He also coaches academy rugby...

I'm delighted to welcome back  Amy Price in this episode. Amy works as a  coach  developer for the FA working with coaches in the senior women's professional game – women's super league, women's championship, first team and under 21's. Prior to this, Amy was a lecturer at St Mary's University, London in Physical and Sport Education and then Programme Director. Amy holds a Masters and DProf and is...

I'm delighted to speak with Dr Matt Hoffmann in this episode. Matt is Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton. He is primarily interested in examining the nature and benefits of high-quality peer athlete mentoring relationships. Relatedly, he investigates how athletes exhibit effective leadership behaviours, including the ways in which leaders...

I am delighted to welcome back Dr Andrew Abraham to the show this week. Andrew is Head of Department for Sport Coaching at Leeds Beckett University. He is a coach developer with an interest in how coaches do their job in relation to effectiveness, judgement, decision-making and talent development.    Andrew has most recently been involved in developing and delivering a Post Graduate Diploma in Coa...

I'm delighted to welcome back Richard Nugent to the show. Richard is founder and MD of TwentyOne Leadership.   Over the past 20 years, Richard has worked with thousands of professionals in some of the biggest and best-known organisations in the world. He specialises in helping executive leaders and teams grow and change their strategic direction.   Richard also teaches leadership and culture modul...

In this episode I'm joined by Dr Shane Pill. 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 physical education curriculum and pedagogy, and education leadership. He has authored over 150 peer review...

I am delighted to be joined by Danielle Cormier and Dr Kent Kowalski in this week's episode. We speak about self-compassion in sport. Danielle is a Doctoral Candidate at University of Saskatchewan, specialising in Sport Psychology. Danielle is passionate about encouraging athletes to build on their character strengths rather than focusing on their weaknesses. She is particularly interested in the...

In this episode I'm joined by Performance Coach, Aaron Walsh. Aaron's primary focus areas are mental performance, leadership development and culture reviews. He is the current mental skills coach with Chiefs Rugby Club and Scotland Rugby, as well as helping develop mental performance programs for Harlequins and Texas Rangers. Before this, Aaron worked in MLB, NRL and with various national teams. H...

In this episode, I'm joined by Barnaby Sargent Megicks. Barney is a PhD Student in Sport Coaching at Leeds Beckett University with ICOACHKIDS. His research focuses on talent and holistic development. Barney is a Loughborough University and University of Birmingham Graduate and a qualified PE teacher. He is also a hockey coach at Leeds Hockey Club and West Yorkshire. Barney and I discuss talent dev...

In this episode, I'm joined by Henrik Herrebroden. Henrik is a sport psychologist and PhD fellow at the University of Oslo. His area of interest is in mental effort and elite performance . We talk about a fascinating paper in which Henrik discusses the benefits of both external and internal focus of attention in motor learning and performance. In the paper Henrik analyses the idea that an external...

In this episode I welcome back Prof Chris Cushion,  Prof Stephen Harvey and Dr Ed Cope to the show. Chris, Stephen and Ed bring their considerable coaching and academic knowledge to this episode to discuss different approaches to coaching. We do a deep dive on instructional approaches, discuss the confusion around instructional coaching and offer clarification to listeners. Chris is Professor of C...

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr Martin Turner. Martin is a Reader in Psychology at The Manchester Metropolitan University specialising in human performance under pressure and adversity. Martin's research also includes the use of a counselling framework called Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) to help athletes reduce their irrational beliefs that cause unhelpful emotions and maladaptive b...

In this episode I speak with Bernadette Kellermann. Bernadette is a Performance Psychology PhD student at the University of Edinburgh researching the Multi-Action Plan (MAP) Model and transitions between mental states in performance. We discuss a paper Bernadette has written along with Dr Alan MacPherson, Prof Dave Collins and Dr Maurizio Bertollo about this subject. The MAP Model is an action-foc...

I speak with Dr Dale Whelehan in this episode. Dale is a Behaviour Scientist and Chartered Physiotherapist graduate from Trinity College, Dublin. His research focuses on the relationship between sleep and performance. He has interests in performance science, sleep science, positive psychology, behaviour change, medical education, higher education, and public health. His research is in the area of...

In this episode I speak with Dr Kieran File. Kieran is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics at University of Warwick. Kieran's main interest is in language use in high performance sporting contexts. Kieran is also director of Reactive Sports Media which offers research informed media training and advice for professional sports players, sporting body executives and broadcast interviewers abou...

This week I'm delighted to speak to Lindsey Hamilton. Lindsey is Head of Mental Conditioning at IMG Academy where she leads, develops, and facilitates a team of 12 mental conditioning coaches that oversees the mental skills development of over 1,100 student-athletes across eight sports. She also leads the IMG Institute through developing and delivering high performance mindset training to executiv...

I am delighted to be joined by Dr Mike Ashford and Dr Loel Collins in this episode. Both Mike and Loel lecture at Edinburgh University. Loel is the Programme Director for MSc Performance Coaching and Development and Mike lectures in Sports Coaching and Performance. They are also both coach developers at Grey Matters, a company specialising in performance enhancement and coaching development for in...