The Sports Initiative Podcast

Jeff Stanek is an associate scout for an MLB franchise. Previously a coach at the Division 1 and Juco level, now focuses on the assessment and projection of players at the high school and college ages. He also runs the Figure it out baseball website which provides free tools and material for athlete development. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Davide Igono is the creator of the social media platform @undervalu. A former professional football player, Davide now focuses on finding players and staff who our undervalued in the global soccer market. His platform highlights potential replacements for high profile players (Mario Gotze), up and coming ones to watch (Ferdy Druijf) and high talented senior recruitment staff (Kevin Thirwell). If y...

Craig Morris is the Olympic Canoe Slalom Coach for British Canoeing. Craig coached Mallory Franklin, Adam Burgess and Kimberley Woods to Tokyo 2020 selection and is well known for his constraint led athlete cantered approach. He is also an ambassador for UK coaching. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason Filippi has worked in the NBA for 19 years across a variety of teams. He has held positions as an international scout for the Detroit Pistons and the Miami Heat and was also the director of international scouting for the Portland Trail Blazers. During this time, they drafted the likes of Nicolas Batum, Rudy Fernandez and Pau Gasol from Europe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

Dan McNally is the Director of Operations at FC Cincinnati. Officially the clubs first ever employee, Dan has seen the side grow from an ambitious idea to MLS dream and helped shape and guide the club in each step. Formally a player at Blackburn Rovers, Dan was also a coach at the University of Cincinnati prior to this role. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Borwell is a former Great British women's tennis player. She specialised in doubles and was ranked number 1 in the country. Competing in major competitions including Wimbledon and the Commonwealth games, Sarah travelled the globe as a professional player after graduating the University of Houston. Now working with Keystone sports, she helps young player transition out to the United States co...

Tosh Farrell is a a highly regarded Youth Developer following his long standing role as part of Everton FC's academy. He helped develop the likes of Wayne Rooney, Jack Rodwell and Callum McManamam. He now works for FIFO, Robbie Fowler's Football academy, which looks to help develop the holistic individual at the college age group. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Ryland is a former collegiate Football player at Penn State. After his college career he then transitioned to become a member of the United States Rugby team. Andrew specialises in teaching tackling technique and how to create a strong fundamental base for players throughout the pathway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Butt is the Lead Foundation Phase Coach at Sheffield Wednesday. Chris has fulfilled a variety of roles both at Sheffield Wednesday and Chesterfield FC and holds a Masters degree from Leeds Beckett University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Iain Brunnschweiler is the Coach and Player Development Manager at Southampton FC. In this role he aims to support players and coaches in their professional development and preparing them for the riggers for full time academy and first team football. Prior to this he had also worked for UK Coaching, England Cricket and Hampshire Cricket. Formally a professional cricketer with Hampshire, Iain has p...

Tom Hartley is a performance coach developer at UK coaching. In this role he aims to challenge and support coaches from a wide range of sports focusing on improving their planning, delivery and evaluation. Alongside this role he also works as assistant coach at Oxford Women's FC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Harmon is an academy coach at Red Bull New York. He works with both the U12's and U14's age groups and aims to implement the high octane Red Bull transitional play. Prior to this, he coached at Barcelona in Arizona as well as playing/trialling at a variety of US and European clubs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rhys Denton is a Youth development phase coach at Reading FC. He is also an Academy Manager at Hungerford Town as well as running his own business Perform 23 which runs a host of football camps which players from all different football academies attend. Rhys also recently received the Ugo Ehiogu 'ones to watch' from Football Black List. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Phil Kearney is lecturer of sport and exercise sciences at the University of Limerick. Specialising in the field of skill acquisition, Phil has an in depth theoretical and practical knowledge as to how skills are learnt in a youth development context. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Rob Bell is a coach, podcaster and author on mental toughness. He works with college and professional athletes trying to help them prepare and address psychological challenges in their athletic career. He has also written 7 books including 'puke and rally' and 'the hinge' which provides readers with practical insights into the world of mental toughness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...

Nick Gearing is a PHD student looking into the practice design at the top producing academies across Europe. In this, he has focused on the use of isolated practice and how this has challenged the narrative around SSG and constraint led coaching. A coaching and analyst in his own right, Nick has worked at Premiership side Brentford and London based Leyton Orient. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...

Paul Barry is the soon to be assistant Head of Coaching at Crystal Palace. During a 25 year long coaching journey, Paul has worked at some of the most prominent clubs in the London area including Watford, Southend and Arsenal. He is also a content creator for the online platform Football DNA. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Hudson is a Youth Development Phase coach at Premier League Cat 1 academy, Aston Villa. Formally of Derby County and the University of South Wales, Sam also works for the Coaches Voice where he plays an integral role in content creation for the platform. He has also recently become an author with his book, 'Football in a pandemic' which is available now on amazon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.co...

Rich Hudson is the Managing Director at Buckinghamshire Cricket Club. Holding a Msc in Sport psychology and ECB level 4 qualification, Rich helps develop programmes to develop young players holistic skills and hopefully gain a foothold in the academy county cricket pathway. He is also a published author with his book 'perform beyond pressure' now available on amazon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...

Ricky Simons is a Youth Development Phase coach at Millwall FC. An A licensed coach, Ricky spends his time trying to development players in the U15/16's age group to gain scholarships, and hopefully, professional contracts. He has also worked with some of the best practitioners in the U.K including Dan Molina, Kenny Brown and Mark Phillips. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...

David Baird is a coach and coach educator at the Scottish F.A. Also a coach as part of the Heats academy, David has created the scoreboard soccer scheme which aims to engage players in a unique and challenging way. Using this programme has a series of alternative outcomes including skill acquisition, SSG constraints and positive reinforcement of behaviours Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...

Lee Hodge is the Head of Coaching at Plymouth Argyle. An A licensed coach in his own right, Lee spends the majority of his time focusing on improving the experiences of young players in the academy set up. During his career, Lee has also worked for Championship side, Swansea City, as they progressed from Cat 2 to Cat 1 and Nottingham Forest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

Jimmy Adams is a former player and now turned coach at Hampshire Cricket. Working across the clubs coaching pathway, Jimmy's main role is to support 2nd XI players with their individual development and transition into the first team squad. A highly successful player in his own right, Jimmy captained Hampshire to a number of short format successes in the late 2000's whilst playing with some of the...

The rugby coach weekly is an online platform that supports coaches to develop their practices and methodology to better support their player development. Host, Phil Llewellyn is a coach at Oxford University whilst David Kilcoyne is Head of Rugby at Desborough College Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon Turner is the founder of Mvmt sports which focuses on using sport as a vehicle for social change. A basketball coach in his own right, Simon focuses on how to develop coaches to show better awareness of their own coaching methodology and how their actions can positively affect those in the wider community. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.