The Talent Equation Podcast

Stephen Griffin is a former certified accountant who became an angel investor and fund manager into community sports organisations and companies. His journey took him into some of the shady underbelly of sports organisations that are outwardly providing positive community physical activity experiences but are actually acting corruptly and dealing in illegal immigration, people trafficking and inhumane working conditions. It is a shocking story that serves as a stark reminder of what can happen when corporate greed meets community sport and physical activity. Stephen's book can be bought here https://amzn.to/32drOuv (this is an affiliate link - using this helps to support the show!) If you would like to support the show and/or would like to join my community of learning 'The Conclave' then head over to https://www.patreon.com/thetalentequation?fan_landing=trueHis experiences led him to write FRONT ROW SEAT - Greed and Corruption in a Youth Sports Company. and LOST LOCKER ROOM - The Collapse of Global Premier S

Rob Gray is a regular guest on The Talent Equation and should be well known to regular listeners. Rob is an associate professor in human systems engineering in the Polytechnic School at Arizona State University as well as the host of the brilliant 'Perception and Action Podcast' (I like to think of it as the 'brainy cousin' of this show!). In this conversation Rob drops by to talk to me about the content of his new book 'How we learn to move: a revolution in the way we coach and practice sports skills'. We cover a lot including: Why Rob thinks that dribbling round cones has no functionHow he 'self organised towards self organisation'Why the idea of 'one repeatable perfect technique' is a mythHope you enjoyUse this link to buy the book for yourself and all of your coaching friends for Christmas (it is an affiliate link and helps to support the show) https://amzn.to/3DlvMip

Andy Pitchford is the Head of the Centre for Teaching and Education at the University of Westminster in London. His research is in the fields of education, pedagogy and community sport. In the early 2000s, Andy was part of a team of researchers who investigated safeguarding in sport, and particularly in football, and this led to a series of publications including a book - Child Welfare in Football - that was published by Routledge in 2007. More recently, Andy has worked with colleagues on another Routledge text, 'The Handbook of Authentic Learning', which reflects more recent interest in pedagogies that give students power and agency. In this conversation Andy shares some of the insights from a new paper that he has written that is currently in review called 'Playing Uphill and Into the Wind: Counter Cultural Coaching in Youth Football.' The conversation explores the experiences of coaches that have tried to work in a child centred way and how challenging it has been for them to overcome a culture that has be

Dr Andrew Wilson (@psychscientists) is an internationally recognised expert in perception, action and embodied cognition. His research interests are broadly in the area of perception and action, with a particular interest in learning and theories of embodied cognition.Andrew joined the talent equation learning community aka 'The Conclave' to share some of his latest projects working with Southampton Football club including the development of a new coaching curriculum. The session allowed Andrew to 'think aloud' about some of the applications of the ecological approach in this context and to play with some ideas as to the best ways of implementing some of these ideas. It's a fascinating discussion that I hope you enjoy.

Jamie Munro is a Lacrosse coach who has found a fascinating way to coach his sport through film. His method is to use free play as the basis for learning and to then use reflection through watching the film of these sessions with athletes to observe what might be useful as a tool for learning. Jamie is a free play evangelist but as he say's this doesn't remove the place for the coach, in fact the coach is really important in free play....just important in a different way...."the Free Play model doesn't remove good coaching from the development equation. Good coaches have tremendous value as mentors, as teachers, and as tacticians, but coaches can't teach "Feel". Only the game can teach "Feel" and the "Feel" is the whole key!"Jamie has a podcast too so we decided to have an exchange of ideas and to post the outcome on our respective shows...You can find out more about Jamie and his approach here... https://www.jm3sports.com

Laurence Cassoe Halsted is a two-time Olympic fencer, having competed for Team GB in the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games. Following his retirement from competitive fencing after Rio he has been in the role of Performance Director for the Danish Fencing Federation. Laurence is also engaged with a charity called The True Athlete Project as Director of Mentoring. ​In this conversation we dive into Laurence's experiences as an athlete, coach and performance director and how they have shaped the writing of his new book 'Becoming a True Athlete'. We discuss how coaches and parents can help young people to unleash far more of their potential as individuals and groups, through a better understanding of what drives us as humans tapping in to our deepest sense of purpose and meaning in life, while connecting us more closely with nature and with each other.https://www.laurencehalsted.comhttps://www.sequoia-books.com/catalog/halsted/

Dr Josephine Perry is a chartered psychologist working with those in sport and on the stage and in business to help them overcome their barriers to success so they can achieve their goals.Josie has a background in communications and behaviour change having worked for many years in journalism, marketing, public relations and crisis communications across private corporations and government. She has a MSc in Communications, a MSc in Psychology and a MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology. She also has a PhD in Political Communications. In this conversation we explore some of the key takeaways from her new book 'I Can: A Teenage Athletes Guide to Mental Fitness' and cover a range of subjects including athlete wellbeing, toxic environments, why mental toughness is all wrong and how parents and coaches can avoid falling into the 'expectations trap'. https://performanceinmind.co.uk/https://performanceinmind.co.uk/shop/#ican

Craig Morris joins some members of The Talent Equation learning community 'The Conclave' and myself from his hotel room in Slovakia (where he is preparing for a world championships with his athletes) to share some reflections from his experiences at the recent Tokyo Olympic Games. It is an open and honest insight into the preparation for the games during the pandemic and the ways that he and the athletes were forced to adapt their training to address this...he also shares some of the experiences of the games themselves and what he took away from the experience.

Andy Kirkland is a Lecturer in Sports Coaching in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport at the University of Stirling in Scotland. He leads the MSc. in Performance Coaching at the university as well as being a Chartered Scientist and a BASES Accredited Sport & Exercise Scientist (support & pedagogy).Andy has worked as a sport physiologist, a coach developer at British Cycling and support others in developing performance environments. He is also a practicing high performance triathlon coach. This conversation was stimulated by an article that Andy wrote that created some challenges for the coaching industry in the UK. We explore some of his ideas and I share some perspectives from my role leading coaching system transformation at Sport England (this is a bit of a departure for me as I usually keep the podcast quite separate from my day job but in the this case I felt that the discussion warranted publication here. You can read the article here. https://spark.adobe.com/page/p8LN8wGMqTC6V/Hope you enj

David Hinchliffe makes a welcome return to talk about his coaching experiences working with a constraint led, ecologically driven model within a school environment within mixed ability groups. We explore motivational challenges, 'false gamification', co-designing practice and loads of examples of activities and practice types linked to various types of striking games. David also does some counselling for me to help me work through the challenges that I have been facing coaching u13s (including my son!)Hope you enjoy

It's been a while since my last DWD but I had to record an episode to reflect on the journey of the England Football Team during the European Championships ahead of the final on Sunday. I have been fortunate to spend time with Gareth Southgate, the England Head Coach on a couple of occasions and I was able to glean some insights from those interactions that I think are relevant to the success that the team are currently enjoying and would be useful for any coach. Hope you enjoy*GB actually won 1 gold medal in Atlanta (not 1 bronze as I said in the recording) among a total medal haul of 15.

Professor Sean Cumming is internationally recognised as a leading expert on the subject of growth and maturation in sport and exercise. Adopting a biocultural perspective, his research seeks to understand how biological and psychosocial factors impact athletic development and the maintenance of health behaviours during adolescence.Sean joins me for a discussion about the science behind adolescent development and some of the latest thinking in relation to the ways that young athletes could be grouped for competition and selection which would provide for a more effective and inclusive athlete development experience. Hope you enjoy

In this podcast, the tables get turned on me as instead of being the one asking the questions and framing the discussion I am in the hot seat as the subject of a conversation with the awesome Skye Eddy Bruce from the 'Soccer Parenting Association'. We talk about how coaches and parents can work together to develop athletes and the role that parents can play as the first coach of their children. We explore skill development, maturation and how the creation of a motivational climate. Hope you enjoy

Adam Kelly is a Senior Lecturer and the Course Leader for Sports Coaching and Physical Education at Birmingham City University. He consults with international institutions and organisations in a number of professional sports, including football, rugby union, cricket, swimming, squash, and ice hockey. In this conversation Adam and I explore the latest research into non linear and more equitable talent development and competition frameworks. We discuss the relative merits of 'Birthday Banding' , Bio Banding', 'Average Team Age' and 'Playing Up/Down' approaches. Hope you enjoyLinks to research articles 'Birthday Banding' - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2020.573890/full 'Playing Up / Down' - https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/27544?show=full'Average Team Age' - https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003163572-10/average-team-age-method-potential-reduce-relative-age-effects-jan-verbeek-steve-lawrence-jorg-van-der-breggen-adam-kelly-laura-jonker 'Bio Banding' - http

Adam Haniver is a boxing coach and coach educator that works in the England Boxing talent pathway. He is also the co founder of 'The Box Gathering' - a community of learning for coaches in the boxing world to come together and explore ideas. Adam is a coach that is passionate about learning and improvement and this conversation was stimulated by him reaching out to me with a question following a podcast I recently published with Coach Casey Wheel which touched on deceptive actions. We look at the applications of ecological principles in boxing and get practical as we explore different practice concepts that could be used in a 1 to 1 opponent situation. Hope you enjoy

Ben Bell is a football coach that is also a Masters Student studying the applications of the Constraints Led approach in Football. His studies led to him to write a book which he hopes will bridge the gap between the theory and the application. 'Introduction to the Constraints-Led Approach: Application in Football' is a coaching resource football coaches can use to understand key theoretical underpinnings such as ecological dynamics, perception-action, degrees of freedom and complexity theory. Examples are then provided within theoretical chapters to assist readers in their practical application. Over 30 designed practices using the constraints-led approach show readers how the theory translates into practice. It was a great conversation...I hope you enjoy.

In this episode the tables get turned a little as I am joined by Tim Marshall who is starting a post graduate course looking at all aspects of coach education and he asked me if he could interview me for an assignment he has coming up. I agreed on the proviso that we could record it and share it on the podcast. So here is a look at the history of coach education, how we got to where we are and where we need to go to next. Hope you enjoy

My good friend William Anderson and I caught up recently to discuss the fascinating story of his 5 year journey to go from average player to international representation. It is a story of commitment, planning, relentlessness, perseverance and hard work. William shares how he used the skills and knowledge gained from a career as a specialist in providing experiential learning solutions for corporate clients and sporting organisations to develop a plan to achieve his dream of representing England. There are so many takeaways that apply to all aspects of human development. I hope you enjoy. Check out William's website and blog here https://www.the-teamworks.co.uk/

Danny Newcombe makes a welcome return to the show to share his experiences since taking over the Head Coach role with the Wales Senior Men's Field Hockey programme. Danny is his usual very open and vulnerable self and his reflections are relevant to anyone taking a leadership role in pretty much any walk of life. As you would expect, the conversations meanders on to the specifics of coaching and we explore a range of subjects related to practice design, individual practice, game based approaches, over constraining, co adaptation....the list goes on. Lots and lots to be taken out of this conversation. Hope you enjoy.

This is an 'Ask Me Anything' (AMA) episode where I respond to listener questions that have been sent to me. I can't respond to every question but I will respond on here if it is a particularly interesting questions that requires a more thorough response than I have time to write. This one is all about CLA in coach education. Generally, I prioritise questions that come from people who subscribe to the website or support the show through Patreon....if you would like to support the show in this way (buy a cup of coffee a month) head to https://www.patreon.com/thetalentequation