The Talent Equation Podcast

Matt Young is an entrepreneur, coach, film maker and advocate for youth sport. He has been working with the United States Olympic Commission to develop a new framework for children's sport in North America which led to him making a documentary about the challenges facing young people in sport called 'The Cost of Winning' https://vimeo.com/potentialpictures/costofwinning In this episode we cover a lot of ground including...- How he made $97 Million dollars by developing a personal training business that placed the participant experience at the heart of the provision- The 5 F's of a great youth sport experience - Why we all need to understand that we are 'all in sales'- The 6 factors driving drop out of youth sportIt is a fascinating discussion that I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Jonathan Harding is a freelance sports journalist who specialises in German football. He writes predominantly for Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, but has also contributed to the likes of FourFourTwo, Rabona Magazine and 11 Freunde. Germany has a reputation for being the place where young footballers get the chance to develop, but what about coaches? Speaking to different coaches and members of staff across the country, Jonathan's book 'Mensch - Beyond the cones' outlines the attributes that make the German coach development system special. In this conversation we explore many of the insights contained within the book including: - How coaching in Germany goes beyond the stereotypical view of German culture towards a holistic human centred philosophy. - How coaches are innovating and using technology to identify 'talent that whispers'.- The way the German football system is embracing a game based philosophy at the grass roots using ideas devised from the world of field hockey. Hope you enjoy

Jonny McMurtry runs a brilliant blog called www.coachingthecoaches.net. His articles cover some fascinating subjects that really challenge thinking and stimulate debate. He is currently researching coaching at the University of Queensland exploring athlete motivations and what this means for coaches looking to ensure that players remain engaged and reduce drop out. In the conversation we cover the following....- What his research found that was important to players and how coaches had lost sight of this. - His views on the nature of the sports experience for young people in talent pathways- Why 'dynamic thinking' might be at the heart of players centred coaching experiences - What 'Self Determination Theory' can tell us about athlete motivation and how it can help us provide better coaching experiencesHope you enjoy

JP Nerbun is a coach and coach mentor that specialises in transformational leadership. He is the host of the 'Thrive on challenge' podcast and the author of a great new book called 'Calling Up - Discovering your journey to transformational leadership'. In this conversation we cover A LOT of ground but some of the highlights include...- Why we can't just be the 'accountability police'- How JP advocates 'transformational discipline' instead of 'transactional discipline'- Why a change towards a more positive coaching approach brought about a nose dive in his win loss record but also brought other big winsThis is a doozyEnjoyIf you would like to learn more and develop your skills as a coach then please consider joining 'The Conclave' - The Talent Equation's very own learning community. Just head to https://www.patreon.com/thetalentequation to join

Alex Lascu is a researcher and Cricket Coach from Australia. She has dual Bachelor's degrees (Exercise Science & Psychology) from the Queensland University of Technology and is now studying a PhD at the University of Canberra. Alex is passionate in the pursuit of research in sport, focusing on talent development of female cricketers. In this conversation we explore some of Alex's thoughts about coaching and athlete development in cricket as well as delving into some of the really interesting findings of her research. In this conversation we cover the following...- Alex's approach to assessing the level of variability in practice sessions- Why here PhD supervisors can't believe the fact that the practices she studied are all exactly the same- Her thoughts on the role of emotions in the creation of learning environmentsAlex's Medium page https://medium.com/@lascule

This week I managed to navigate timezones and scheduling and technology challenges to 'facilitate' a conversation with Ted Kroeten from Joy of the People, Joey Peters from Game-Play-Learn and Debbie Sayers from Salisbury Rovers to discuss everything about Free Play and the sports experience for children. It is a fantastic conversation full of useful insights and reminders of why we do what we do. Enjoy

Will Roberts is a senior lecturer in sport and exercise at the University of Gloucestershire. His teaching and research interests revolve around two key areas; the sociology of sport, and coaching pedagogy. His PhD examines the role coaching has in providing social and personal change. In this conversation we explore the challenges that coaches face when adopting a constraints led approach to coaching, we also discuss the importance of a strong understanding of human movement and bio-mechanics is important to support effective practice design.We also delve into a project that he is leading that adopts a non linear approach to the development of physical literacy for children in schools and clubs. Linkshttp://www.boingkids.co.uk/https://www.amazon.co.uk/Constraints-Led-Approach-Constraints-Based-Methodologies/dp/1138104078/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1B25QUU3TDNRA&keywords=constraints+led+approach&qid=1561498587&s=gateway&sprefix=constrants+%2Caps%2C192&sr=8-1

Tyler Yearby is a movement skill coach who is part of a growing community of movement specialists that are challenging orthodoxy within coaching in the U.S. Tyler has been heavily involved in supporting Shawn Myzska in creating the Sport Movement Skill Conference. Tyler has worked in a range of sports but his main focus is American Football and he has a range of clients that are playing professionally in the Canadian Football League. In this conversation we explore the ways that Tyler uses ecological principles to guide his coaching and help athletes to develop the skill to perform at their sport. We discuss the challenges of working using a non linear approach and explore ways that we design environments that allow athletes to discover skilful performance strategies. This is a great discussion that I really enjoyedhttps://tyinspiremovement.com/

Sam Jarman is back and this time he is really challenging some of my conceptions of what we understand to be the reality of the youth sport experience. In this episode we delve into philosophical psychology as we explore whether what we value in sport is actually a product of social and cultural constructs which restrict us from genuinely exploring the nature of our experiences and limiting our abilities to tap into genuine human well-being through play, creativity and exploration. This is a mind bender, and you will hear me trying to get my head around some of the ideas and try and bring them to life through relevance to my own experience. Have fun!!Link to Sam's latest book https://samjarmangolf.com/product/take-relief-paperback/

Gunny is back with his unique brand of coaching conversation. As always, Gunny is on point exploring all things engagement and coach development. In this conversation we explore why Gunny feels that coaches should embrace 'Maslow before Bloom' in a reference to meeting an athlete's needs before learning can occur. We also discuss how indigenous games can be used to develop skills and how traditional game forms have been lost from the youth sports experience. It is a conversation full of 'Gunny Gold Nuggets and one not to be missed. If you want to come and learn with Gunny and myself while he is over in the UK then click on this link to register. http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk/eventsOther links Gunny's Youtube Channel 'Gunn Engagement' - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gunn+engagementGunny's website - https://www.craiggunn.org/

It was fantastic to welcome Coach Reed Maltbie back to the show. Coach Reed has been really busy since his last visit. He has just been part of a team that coordinated a massive global youth sports Think Tank called GO! Chase Excellence and he is now engaged in providing mentoring and coach development support for a range of sports organisations including U.S Sailing, Ontario Volleyball and Soccer Shoots FC. In this conversation we explore how Reed uses 'Positive Discipline' in his coaching as well as how he uses 'we' language to create connection and engagement. We also explore how we approach coach development and mentoring and share some of our successes and challenges. It's a great conversation that I am sure you will enjoy

Ben Franks is a researcher in skill acquisition at the University Campus in Football Business (UCFB) based at Wembley in London and he is also a goalkeeper coach. His research studied visual search behaviour in elite goalkeepers and sought to explore how they use their eyes to help them with anticipatory decision making. This episode is made of 2 halves. The first half delves into the research and explores a range of challenging topics in ecological dynamics. The second half is more practical where we explore the implications of this research for coaches and how we can better create learning environments that help players with decision making and anticipation. Hope you enjoy

Olly Logan is 'Analysis Lead' at British Swimming. This is a rather misleading title as it doesn't really do justice to the role that Olly plays in supporting the development of elite British swimmers. As you will see from this conversation Olly's role is about using analysis, data, research and skill acquisition knowledge to devise interventions that will help the best get better. In this fascinating conversation we explore a range of topics including: Why all road cyclists should do cyclo-crossWhy we should keep the 'technical groove' as shallow as possible for as long as possibleHis very different take on 'the rule of 3'The ways he helped an existing Olympic Champion to become even better This is one not to be missed...

Lucy Moore is a coach, coach developer and coach development professional. The is the Coach Development Manager at Sport England working to support coaches and members of the professional workforce in the England Talent Pathway. In this conversation we explore her career journey and why she loves working in sport and helping others to coach. We discuss approaches to coach development and explore ways that we can have more honest conversations with athletes and other coaches by searching for 'radical candour'. We also discuss when is the right time to 'tell' people something to do instead of always using questions. The 'radical candour' model can be seen here https://mk0radicalcandov3r1t.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2x2-white.gif Hope you enjoy

Sion Kitson is an international Futsal Coach and Coach Developer working with the England Futsal Teams. Sion has been working in the Futsal for many years having stumbled across the sport at University and falling in love with the sport after representing GB as a player and getting beaten by Portugal 20-0!! In this fascinating conversation we explore how Futsal has developed and how the game demands different experiences of players and how he has adapted his coaching to meet the unique demands of the sport. Hope you enjoy

Gregor Wood was one half of the intrepid duo that worked with me to organise the live learning event that we hosted at Stewart Melville's College in Edinburgh recently. We got together to record a podcast to discuss our reflections on the event and to share our key takeaway messages from the speakers and practical sessions. Hope you enjoy.

The podcast panel is back. This week I am joined by Loren Anderson, David Hinchliffe and Ed Coughlan. In this great conversation we start by discussing a challenge that Loren faces with getting children to attune to the visual cues that will help them perform more effectively and then begin to explore a range of topics including a fabulous 10 minute rant from Ed on his views on a new sporting development framework in Ireland. Hope you enjoy

Calvin Betton is back. As always, Calvin isn't short of an opinion or 2 about the word of tennis. Calvin came on to the show because he had listened to the recent podcast panel and wanted to explore some of the areas that were discussed around the use of instructions to get some clarification based on some recent experiences. He also shares his love of music and we discuss the development of musical skill and how this relates to sport. It's a great conversation and it really helped me to clarify a few things in my mind too!! Enjoy

Jamie Edwards is a performance coach...he helps people to become the best versions of themselves. He has worked with some of the most famous sports stars that the UK has produced but that is only half of the story. The real work is the work he does with young people to help to equip them for the journey ahead...Jamie has had a profound impact on my life in so many ways and some of his teachings have helps me to support someone close to me to recover from a serious crisis. His stuff is good, it is practical and it works!! In this episode we discuss the difference between chats and conversations, the power of 'de-labeling', how psychological archetypes and metaphors can enhance performance and how to help people to develop the tools and skills to help them navigate through the challenges that they will face in sport and life.It's a long one...but I think its worth the investment in time.

Nick Davey is a full time field hockey coach that works in the North West of England. He has been on a fascinating learning journey and has been really committed to his development. This podcast came about because Nick and I were in conversation about some of the challenges that have been presented by the recent discussions around 'it depends'. In this conversation we explore his philosophy and search for authenticity. We also discuss methodology and the ways that he works with different audience groups. He also puts some robust challenges in front of people that are working in a linear way to be able to justify that approach. It's a great conversation with a highly committed practitioner. Hope you enjoy