The Talent Equation Podcast

Chris Cushion is Professor of Coaching & Pedagogy at Loughborough University as well as the Head of Coaching at England Netball. Chris is one of the most well known researchers in the world of sports coaching and has published widely. I asked Chris to join me to disuss the nature of 'direct instruction' which he argues has some to mean something in coaching that is not an accurate way to depict it. Chris and I have disagreed in the past about this subject so we thought it was hight time we got together and had a proper discussion about this area. Needless to say, we didn't stop there...we also discussed...How poor coach education is as a means to effectively support coaches and develop thier skillsWhy coach development is so under valuedWhy technique led coaching is still so prevalentWhy the 'toolbox metaphor' limits coaching effectivenessIt was a really interesting and valuable conversation. Hope you enjoy

In this dog walk diary I think aloud about work I am doing at the moment to support a reconceptualisation of coaching for children by evoking the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.

Leanne Norman is a Professor of Sport and Sociocultural Studies and Director of the Research Centre for Social Justice in Sport and Society at Leeds Beckett University. Her research utilises a critical sociological lens to examine sport organisational and coaching cultures to address gender equity and diversity within sport coaching workforces.Ellen Jones is a lecturer and the academic lead for all tennis performance modules and the Performance Director of Tennis at Cardiff Metropolitan University.They join me to discuss a paper that they had written that explained some of the challenges faced my both male and female coaches who had experienced mental health issues and burnout linked to the dominant 'performance narrative' that has become so prevalent across sport. Here is a link to the paper - https://t.co/Kl6I4mNq7ZI hope you enjoyStuart

After a monster twitter discussion about the relative value of 'two touch' as a constraint I invited some of the protagonists to join me for a live streamed discussion where we could circle around the problem in a more conducive situation than the limits of Twitter. It's a proper CLA geek out but I think we made some good progress and shared some good ideas. Hope you get some new insights from it

Callum Murray has worked in youth football for the last five years with some of the most talented and respected players of their age in the country, including working in men’s first-team recruitment for a professional club. With a background in sport psychology and a deep interest in football and talent development, he has researched football- talent hotbeds in England exhaustively, speaking to experts and some of the most influential people in this field. 'Something in the Water' uncovers the secrets of the football-talent hotbeds of English football: past, present and future. It takes a look behind the scenes of the traditional working-class northern town hotbeds and the emergence of south London as the new-school hotbed, to explore the key characteristics that helped to develop players such as Sancho, Zaha, Gerrard and others.Hope you enjoy

This is a bit of a different episode, it is the recording from my 'Twitter Spaces' conversation organised by Philip O'Callaghan to explore 'Representative Learning Design'. The chat features a range of people who have all featured on the podcast in the past, Alex Lascu, Marianne Davies, Cal Jones and Mark O'Sullivan. It's an interesting conversation that wanders all over the map of Representative Learning Design and also gets into coach education (because Mark tries to get me into trouble by baiting me into saying something about it - and I can't resist!)I hope you enjoy

Rob McGarr is a YouTuber who has been documenting the ups and downs of his journey of improvement in golf for several years. His honest video diary has seen him travel all over the UK and Europe in search of information that will help him reach his goals of playing consistent scratch golf. His channel is fantastic and I really enjoy it but I have also been struck by the interactions he has had with many coaches, and the different philosophies that they adopt and the approaches they take and how this has affected his performance, adversely or otherwise. I decided to reach out to him to have a conversation about his journey and to explore some thoughts about coaching and skill acquisition that might help him make sense of all of the information he has received. It's a long one...but I think that it is a goody...whether you are into golf or not. Enjoy!!

Some thoughts about a question that was posed to me recently as to how you can justify using a non linear / ecological approach to coaching.

Dr. Tom Parry is the founder and owner of Kestrel Performance Psychology. He has a Ph.D. in Human Performance from Indiana University with specializations in Skill Acquisition and Psychology.He wears many hats including Professor, Father, Coach and Consultant. These roles have blessed him with a detailed understanding of human behaviour from various perspectives and the nuanced nature of performance.Tom and I get into the weeds to explore how we can connect the wider coaching world with some of the counter intuitive aspects of non linear pedagogy. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with some of these ideas and explore the way Tom thinks about coaching and skill development. Listen to the end to find out about how to play 'Zombie Tag'. https://kestrelpsychology.wixsite.com/kestrelpsychology

JP Nurbun makes a welcome return to the podcast. JP is a fellow podcaster as host of 'The Coaching Culture' podcast. He is also an author, his first book 'Calling Up' was a real hit and I really enjoyed it. This time round he has gone one better having written 'The Culture System' which is fascinating. In this conversation we delve into some of the key elements of The Culture System and unpack them to get to grips with how they are applied and who applies them. It's a super powerful conversation that I took a lot away from. I hope you do tooJP's podcast - https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/k2pt3-6258f/Coaching-Culture-PodcastJP's book - https://www.myculturesystem.com/

Dan Lycett and Ross Williams are on the PE staff at St David's College in LLandudno in North Wales. They have been very public in sharing their approach to PE and school sport with the world and have been very active in creating learning spaces for other practitioners. In this conversation we delve into the alternative approach that they take to increase engagement in PE and school sport by turning the curriculum on it's head and working backwards from a child centred approach. The results speak for themselves as I hope you will agree from the discussion.Link to my conversation with Stephen Rollnick about Motivational Interviewing https://www.spreaker.com/episode/20445243

Will Roberts makes a welcome return to the podcast joined by a colleague at University of Gloucester, Kirsten Wing. You will remember Will from a previous podcast talking about the fantastic programme called 'Boing' which is looking to take an ecological approach to the development of movement for children.Kirsten has been studying the effect of Boing on coaching practice and on the way that children have responded to the approach with some fascinating findings - not least of which the link between the digital space and the physical space. I invited them on to talk me through it and explore some of the real world ramifications, it's a really interesting conversation that I really enjoyed...I hope you will too. Link to the research report here https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360561628_Operationalising_Physical_Literacy_Boing_Practitioner_Education_Programme_Technical_Report

Greg Clements is a friend and a colleague. Greg has worked at Sport England for more than 12 years in various roles and he reached out to me because he has been coaching a football team which his son is involved in and they have reached a cross roads in deciding how to group the teams for next year. Having done a bit of research within the sports world he found very little to help shape thinking so he reached out to me for a conversation and he was good enough to let me record it. It's a really interesting area and one that affects a lot of coaches so I hope that you get something out of it.

Mia Palles-Clark is a British show jumping coach and coach developer. She is the England Home Pony Team Chef d'Equipe and the British Army team coach and was awarded British Show jumping coach of the year in 2017.I am joined by my co host Marianne Davies from UK Coaching and Dynamics Coaching https://dynamics-coaching.com/home/marianne-davies/ to explore the cross over between the equestrian world and the human world. In this conversation we explore how humans treat children and horses in the same way by robbing them of agency and choice about what happens to them in the sporting arena. We delve into some common practices and beliefs from the equestrian world and discover some startling parallels with the youth sport domain. This is a 'simulcast' with Marianne's new podcast project 'The River Tiger Podcast' be sure to check it out. https://open.spotify.com/show/3aS0XlrTdt5Pn4nLeSw1ig?fbclid=IwAR2YiYbtocoIrCOJr0qvEZ1PfdykZ-kM9ghDAV6VeFepYuPbIZtj4b1fjdI

It’s so challenging to have conversations with other coaches or parents about what your approach to creating participation opportunities could or should be. Should be be inclusive, should focus on outcomes, should you prioritise development. In this ‘think aloud’ audio blog I share a framework for thinking about this that might help to clarify thinking and make for more productive conversations.

Sharing some thoughts about a session I ran trying to explore how to improve passing in a group of players. Some mistakes I made and what you can learn from them.

Ian Brunnschweiler is a Head of Technical Development at Southampton football club, he is a friend of the show and a previous podcast guest. Dr Mark Jarvis, is making his debut, he is High Performance Manager at the club and his previous experiences were with the English Institute of Sport where he had the role of Director of Performance Solutions. They join me to share insights on the holistic way that Southampton go about coaching, player development rooted in the principles of Ecological Dynamics. They also share some insights from the new project that they have launched called the 'Learning Lab' which is committed to intentionally studying the impact of ecological approaches on their ability to support player development. It's a really fascination and open discussion about working in a talent development environment with loads of insights that are applicable in any developmental context.

Neil Plimmer is a golf coach and the co founder of 'JOLF', a golf coaching organisation dedicated to providing brilliant experiences for children. In the past year JOLF has been enjoyed by more than 12,000 children in schools, community settings and and at golf clubs around the country. The concept and what they offer continues to change as they learn and grow.Neil has been invited to speak across the world to about JOLF and share his knowledge and experiences. He is happiest with a group of 30 children in a school delivering sessions and coming up with different experiences that will engage children and create a love for golf, and sport in general.

I can hardly believe that I have reached the milestone of 200 episodes of the Talent equation Podcast. To celebrate I was joined by several previous guests, some members of the Conclave Community of Learning group and some members of 'The Ecological Explorers Club'. We reminisced about some favourite things about the podcast and then discussed some topical issues that we face into the future.

Jonathan Harding makes a welcome return to the show to share insights from his new book 'Soul: Beyond the Athlete'. Jonathan describes himself as "A sports writer who cares about the person and the player, the coach and the community. I speak German, am a father and try to look after the planet. Seagulls and San Francisco."Jonathan's first book 'Mensch' which explored the sophistication of the German Football Coach Education System...was a massive hit and is still one of my favourite books on coaching. His follow up book 'Soul' delves deep into the footballing sub cultures of some of the environments around the world that are bravely standing up against the tide of 'premature professionalism' and a 'perform at all costs' mentality that has not only affected professional football but also seeped into the grass roots. It's a great conversation. I hope you enjoy.