University of Staffordshire's Performing Under Pressure Podcast

Joe Ford is a former Premiership rugby player and has represented clubs such as Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers. He is now the head coach of Doncaster Knights, and in this episode, he tells Dr Paul Mansell and co-host Jason Wright about his approach to leadership in great detail. Joe really values the contribution that psychology makes to individual and collective performance, and he gives us som...

Emma Biggin is a trainee sport psychologist, University of Staffordshire MSc graduate, and owner of the ‘Bigs’ Sport Psych psychology consultancy. In this episode with Dr Paul Mansell and Professor Matt Slater, Emma speaks about what it means to be a sport psychologist as well as gives an insight into the strategies and techniques she has used so far when working with athletes and their coaching s...

Paul McVeigh is a former Premier League and international footballer, and in this episode, he joins Dr Paul Mansell and Dr Andrew Wilkinson in the studio. Paul began his career at Tottenham Hotspur, made over 200 appearances for Norwich City and also represented Burnley and Luton Town. Paul won 20 caps for Northern Ireland before turning his attention to the psychology of performing under pressure...

Lizzie Lewandowski is our guest in the studio in episode 40. A Sargent of the West Midlands Police Football Unit, Lizzie has had an extensive career in dealing with situations of high pressure. Lizzie has worked at the World Cup, the Euros, the Europa League and the Premier League and has a high level of responsibility on a match-day.  In this episode, we discuss how leadership styles change to ma...

In this special bonus episode, we introduce two local guests who have recently appeared on the ITV show 'My Mum, Your Dad'. Conducted just prior to the show, which is available now on ITVX, father Andy Pearce and daughter Izzy Pearce describe the challenges they face as members of the public who are catapulted onto national TV in front of watching millions. Andy is a successful businessman in the...

Professor Marc Jones is an expert in stress on health, wellbeing and performance in individuals and organisations at Manchester Metropolitan University. Formerly a colleague of co-host Professor Matt Slater at the University of Staffordshire, Marc has been hugely influential in developing theories that explain the confluence of psychology and physiology in performing under pressure. Indeed, the Th...

In this special international edition recorded in Porto, Dr Paul Mansell and Beatriz Gandra speak to Matilde Fidalgo about her perceptions of performing under pressure in the highest level of women's football. Matilde announced her retirement from football this month and has had a stellar career representing teams such as Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, Braga, Manchester City, Real Betis and FC Famalica...

Dave Lawrence is able to speak about performing under pressure from his myriad of experiences in football. In a career spanning 27 years to date, Dave has been Head of Sport for The Albion Foundation, the first ever Director of Women’s Football at WBA FC, Head of Football for University of Wolverhampton, Head Coach for University of Birmingham Women, an FA Mentor and former FA Coach Educator. Dave...

Chris Casper began his career in football at Manchester United under the watchful eye of Sir Alex Ferguson and made his debut for the first team in 1994. He has also represented England at U18 and U21 levels, AFC Bournemouth, Swindon Town and Reading before retiring due to a serious knee injury aged 24. He is now Director at Football at League Two Salford City having also experienced club manageme...

Dr Amber Mosewich is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada. In this exclusive interview with Dr Paul Mansell and Dr Katie Sparks, Amber explains the role of self-compassion in wellbeing and performance in sport. Amber is one of the world's leading experts in this growing and evidence-based field, and the content that she shares also shines a light on how we might utilise self...

Karl Colley began his professional football career with his hometown club Sheffield Wednesday and subsequently signed for Newcastle United and Sheffield United before playing at Non-League level for teams including Halifax Town and Goole. In this episode, Karl speaks at length about the need to offer psychological support to young players and how this needs to be much more than just a box-ticking...

Mark O'Brien made his debut for Derby County in the Championship aged 16 and went on to make nearly 200 career appearances for Motherwell, Luton Town, Southport and Newport County. The former Republic of Ireland youth international retired aged 27 having had open heart surgery and in this episode, Mark tells Dr Paul Mansell and Dr Joe Dixon about how he dealt with this life-threatening situation....

Current vice-captain of League Two Walsall FC, striker Jamille Matt has made over 400 appearances in his career and has represented clubs including Forest Green, Newport County, Fleetwood Town and Kidderminster Harriers. In this unique episode, Jamille joined regular host Dr Paul Mansell and guest co-hosts Jake Jervis and Sam Winnall in the studio to discuss performance under pressure. The added d...

In this episode, Emma Quinn joined Dr Paul Mansell and Laura Jackson in the studio to discuss performing under pressure from the angle of female health. Emma is a PhD student at Loughborough University and has recently delivered psychological skills interventions with the England Amputee Football Association. Speaking from her experiences in competing in karate to a high level as well as reflectin...

In this episode, Wolves Women midfielder Merrick Will joined Dr Paul Mansell in the studio to share her reflections on performing under pressure. Merrick has previously spent four seasons in the Championship with London Bees and has also represented Coventry United, Oxford United, Millwall and Watford. Merrick describes how she prepares for an important game by detailing her use of imagery. Having...

In this episode, we welcomed Nick Welch into the studio. Nick has had a distinguished career in the military, reaching the rank of Major General as part of his 35 years of service. Speaking about his views on leadership in what is perhaps one of the greatest situations of pressure, Nick describes his approach in leading others in missions in Afghanistan and Bosnia. Nick has also had a range of exp...

Professor Matt Slater and Dr Paul Mansell welcomed Dr Martin Turner back to Staffordshire University to tap into his extensive knowledge on wellbeing and performance under pressure. Author of phenomenally detailed book 'The Rational Practitioner', Martin has made a significant contribution to the field of sport psychology through his high quality publications on Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy...

In this episode, Dr Katie Sparks and Dr Paul Mansell spoke to international swimmer Jamie Ingram about his experiences of performing under pressure. Jamie won a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as part of the 4 x 100m men's freestyle relay, has competed at the Swimming World Cup on multiple occasions and has been swimming at national level or above for the last twelve years. Jamie narro...

According to The Times, Geir Jordet is the 'world-leading expert on the psychology of penalties'. A Professor of Football and Psychology at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in Oslo, Geir is also the author of the acclaimed book "Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of the Penalty Shootout". Dr Paul Mansell had the opportunity to interview Geir at the FEPSAC conference in Innsbruck, Austria,...

Ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Prof Matthew Slater and Dr Karla Drew invite Olympic Gold medalist, Helen Richardson-Walsh, into the studio. Helen was part of the GB women’s hockey team that worked hard and proactively to create a culture of belonging, openness, and vulnerability. Alongside pressure training, imagery, self-talk, Helen explains how this was developed and how it was the found...

Derby County defender Kane Wilson joined Dr Paul Mansell as a co-host in the studio to pick the brains of experienced sport and performance psychologist, Dr Tom Bates. Tom has had an extensive career in this field and has worked with Aston Villa, Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday in football, whilst consulting at the Olympic Games for Team GB. This is a bumper episode with so much to unpack, howev...

In this bonus episode of the podcast, three members of the sport and exercise psychology team sat down to share their ideas ahead of presenting a symposium at the prestigious FEPSAC conference in Austria. Entitled ‘A to B to C – stress and performing under pressure’, the purpose of the symposium is to describe how beliefs (B) about an adverse event (A) may lead to thoughts, emotions and behaviours...

Episode 24 of the podcast is an international edition as Dr Paul Mansell travelled to Porto to interview Beatriz Gandra. Beatriz is an expert in nutrition with a specific interest in football. She has provided nutritional support to FC Porto's academy and is now employed full-time at Futebol Club de Famalicão as the women's first-team nutritionist.   Located in the north of Portugal, FC Famalicão...

From growing up in Staffordshire to playing darts at a good level himself, Shaun Rogers now runs his own darts coaching academy, and in this episode, host Dr Paul Mansell asks Shaun to explain how he uses psychology to enhance his coaching and as a result, the performance of the players that he works with. Being an individual sport and one that is so different to the other sports that have already...

Our guest in the studio for episode 22 is Morgan Milne. Morgan is completing a PhD at the University of Birmingham and is undertaking research in the field of dance and sport psychology to contribute towards improving dancers' and athletes' mental health. Hosts Dr Paul Mansell and Laura Jackson were keen to explore Morgan's perceptions of performing under pressure as a dancer herself and how her e...