The Sport Psych Show

I’m delighted to speak with Elisabeth Oehler this week. Elisabeth is a Sports Performance and Strength and Conditioning Coach. Elisabeth has worked in various sports in multiple countries and is currently Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Saudi Olympic Training Center. Elisabeth has her own consultancy practice EO Performance. Previously, Elisabeth was the Strength and Conditioning Coach for DHL Stormers Western Province Rugby in South Africa. Elisabeth takes a holistic approach to athlete development in her coaching to make her athletes stronger, faster, and more powerful. Besides the physical performance aspects, she helps her athletes to develop mental toughness, integrity, the ability to work in a team, discipline, respect, and leadership skills on and off the field or competition floor. Elisabeth is currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Elite Performance at Dublin City University.

I’m delighted to speak with sport psychologist, Michael Caulfield this week. Michael has worked in professional sport for over 25 years. He currently supports a number of teams, organisations, coaches and athletes in elite sport. Michael has worked with teams and players in the Premier League as well as international and domestic cricket and has wide experience across many of the sporting codes. Michael is a registered performance psychologist with the Health and Care Professionals Council, having retrained in psychology after a career in sport and sports administration. Michael is a regular keynote speaker at sport and business conferences on key areas such as wellbeing, rest and recovery, sleep, developing confidence and how to cope with the range of demands placed on people in all walks of life. Michael is also a regular contributor to BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC News and Sky Sports.

I’m delighted to speak with Allan Steele this week. Allan has held many positions in football including Director of Football, Technical Lead, Academy Manager in the Premier League and pro-licence coach. Allan was Director of Football at Forest Green Rovers Football Club. Previously he held roles at Brentford Football Club – as B Team Technical Lead and Assistant Coach, and as Education and Welfare Manager and Academy Coach. Allan and I discuss his coaching and leadership experiences and approaches having worked across three different footballing cultures.

I’m delighted to speak with coach educator and coach, Dr Noel Dempsey this week. Noel is a Senior Lecturer at the University Campus of Football Business (UCFB). UCFB is dedicated to the delivery of ground-breaking undergraduate degree programmes in the football and sports industry. Noel is a UEFA A Licence coach and has coached in range of settings, including grassroots, academy, non-league. Noel previously coached at Manchester City Football Club, The English FA for 4 years and Burnley Football Club. We discuss a range of coaching topics and Noel shares his experiences as a coach and coach developer.

I speak with Olivia Bramley and Dr Laura Healy in this episode. Olivia is a PhD student at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) with an interest in positive sporting environments and experiences. Olivia completed her BSc in Sports and Exercise Science at Nottingham Trent University where she was also Women's Football Club President, Women's Football Media and Communications Officer and Women's Football First team player. Olivia has just returned to the UK to play for the Women’s Championship Team, Durham. Laura is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. Her research explores how to optimise goal pursuit in sport and physical activity for individuals and teams. This has included examining how the motivation underpinning goal striving can impact upon the self-regulation of goals and well-being. Recently, Laura has researched in areas associated with elite performance environments, including the role of personality in elite coach-athlete relationships, resilience, psychological safety and fear of failure in a national sport governing body, and the experience of release from professional football academies. We discuss a paper led by Olivia and co-authored by Laura and Dr Mustafa Sarkar which examines the mental health within sub-elite women’s sport. You can find the paper here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1612197X.2024.2311752

I’m delighted to speak with Sarah Green this week. Sarah is a UEFA A Licence Coach, coach developer and MSc student who is passionate about developing people. Sarah is Performance Coach Developer at England Netball where she works with coaches in the performance pathway (Roses Academy & Franchise Pathways) providing individualised support to develop their coaching practice and behaviours. Sarah also supports potential performance coaches through a coach development programme. Sarah is also Head of Performance at Derby County Women’s Football Club Previously, Sarah worked at The FA for 11 years. She was part of The FA Tesco Skills Programme which was a pioneering programme for 5-11-year olds delivering specialist National Curriculum football-based education. Sarah then progressed to Regional PE and Coaching in Education Manager in the East Midlands working with The Premier League to support professional football clubs with their coach development.

I’m delighted to speak with Jon Mackey this week. Jon is High Performance Director for Canoeing Ireland – managing the Olympic programme across two Olympic sports: canoe slalom and canoe sprint. Jon is also national coach for ring sports (all full contact disciplines) and lead of the coach development program. Jon’s interests revolve around research in coaching, skill acquisition and decision making, exercise science, physiology and leadership. He has a master’s degree in Coaching and Performance Science and is currently studying a Doctoral degree in Elite Performance in Sport at Dublin City University. Jon and I discuss a range of topics around coaching including helping competitors to learn more effectively; using communication tools to help athletes acquire skill; and preparing competitors to perform under pressure.

I’m delighted to speak with David Horrocks this week. David is a coach educator and formerly head of R and D and part of the senior management at Manchester United Football Club. Over the years, David has engaged with many organisations such as British Cycling, Borussia Dortmund, The DFB, Milwaukee Bucks, Cricket Australia, London School of Contemporary Dance, Red Bull, and Inter Miami among others. David is also a consultant to Findel Education, Veo Technologies, Carleton University Canada, and Inspire Sports and is currently running an employee health and wellbeing program for up to 6000 workers with Cadent Gas in conjunction with Whoop technologies. The early part of David’s career was spent in the corporate and government services world in technology. David has also led a paper “Preparation, structured deliberate practice and decision making in elite level football. The case study of Gary Neville (Manchester United FC and England)” and it’s this paper we discuss.

I’m delighted to speak with Katie Crawford this week. Katie and I discuss how coaches can facilitate teamwork within their teams. Katie is a PhD student at the University of Bath. As part of Katie’s PhD research, she led a paper entitled “Coaching teamwork: Team sport athletes’ and coaches’ perceptions of how coaches facilitate teamwork” along with Dr Rachel Arnold, Carly McKay and Dr Desmond McEwan. The study explored how team sport coaches might facilitate teamwork within their teams. The study was based on interviews with coaches and athletes and identified how coaches utilize the following factors to promote teamwork: team selection, roles, coach-athlete relationships, athlete-to-athlete support, favouritism, tactical systems, athlete leadership, and internal competition.

I’m delighted to speak with Josh Frost this week. Josh is a PhD research student at The University of Melbourne. His research is also affiliated with the Elite Sports and Mental Health Centre at Orygen, a not-for-profit Youth Mental Health Centre located in Melbourne. The centre conducts research with athletes, coaches and high-performance support staff to find ways to better support elite athletes. In this episode Josh and I discuss a paper he led entitled “The Mental Health of Elite-Level Coaches: A Systematic Scoping Review” which examined the current body of evidence to explore what is known about the mental health of elite-level coaches (i.e. wellbeing and mental ill-health), the risk and protective factors that influence coach mental health, and the relationship between mental health and coaching effectiveness.

I’m delighted to speak with Karin Hägglund this week. Karin is a Former Swedish National team coach and National team athlete in karate. She is a five-time Swedish champion and three-time Nordic karate champion. Karin now researches how we can maintain well-being and health while performing at a high level over time. She is a PhD-student in Sustainable High-performance Coaching at The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences. Karin is former editor and writer for the magazine FLOW published by the Swedish Sports Psychology Association and was a board member of the Swedish Sports Psychology Association. Karin and I discuss a paper she led entitled “Starting a Conversation about Vulnerability in Elite Sport”. The paper provides practitioners with resources based on insights from high-performance coaches to enable conversations about vulnerability in sport. The aim is that practitioners will use these resources to stimulate reflection and dialogue about vulnerability, which may lower thresholds for help-seeking and foster sustainability in sport organisations.

I’m delighted to speak with Jen Harris this week. Jen is an expert in the field of parenting in youth sport. As the mother of a child athlete Jen was struck how little help there is for parents and decided to help change this. She undertook a Masters degree in Sport Psychology, the focus of which was parenting in youth sport. For her dissertation she created the Super-P Approach; an easy to teach parental communication style which can significantly reduce worry levels in child athletes. Jen is now completing her PhD at The University of Edinburgh to extend the research into her Super-P Approach. Jen has also launched a business, Raising Happy Champs, which offers workshops and an extensive e-learning program to parents of children involved in competitive sport. Jen teaches parents sport psychology principals and how to apply them to improve their child’s experience of sport. In this episode we speak about Jen’s experiences as a sport parent and we discuss the results of a study Jen undertook along with Prof Dave Collins and Dr Christine Nash entitled “Let’s Hear It From the Kids! Examining the Experiences, Views, and Needs of Highly Committed Children Involved in Youth Sport”.

In this episode I’m delighted to speak with Dr Paul Mansell and Dr Katie Sparks. Paul is a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Staffordshire University. Paul completed his PhD in 2023 at the University of Birmingham which investigated the role of trait beliefs in determining stress appraisals, performance and well-being. Paul continues to research in this area, with a specific focus on stress mindset and irrational beliefs. Specifically, Paul has constructed an intervention informed by the REBT framework to enhance well-being and performance under pressure. Katie is a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Staffordshire University and is currently undertaking her PhD at University of Birmingham. Katie is also a mindfulness practitioner. She previously worked with British Rowing as a Performance Lifestyle Advisor and ran psychology educational workshops within their talent development pathway. Paul and Katie discuss the findings of a study that investigated whether a multimodal cognitive-behavioural intervention could enhance young athletes’ psychological well-being and performance. The intervention employed a combination of education and reappraisal delivered in 6 × 1-hour group workshops. Content included stress mindset, irrational beliefs, self-compassion, and imagery. They found that teaching athletes simple cognitive behavioural techniques can change their ‘stress mindset’ and, in turn, enhance their wellbeing and performance.

I’m delighted to speak with Ben Freakley this week. Ben is a highly skilled and experienced sport psychology professional, helping athletes, coaches, and teams to achieve peak performance and reach their goals. Ben is also the founder of Ready.Set.Resilient. Ben has coached individuals, athletes, teams, soldiers, and businesses on the psychology of performance, leadership, team dynamics, and well-being for nearly 20 years. Along the way, Ben has been a NCAA Division I men’s soccer coach, mental performance coach for special operations forces, Head of Mental Performance for the Toronto Blue Jays and he now works in the MLS and USL. Ben holds master’s degrees in Sport Psychology and Sport Management from Georgia Southern University where he was an NCAA Division I athlete. He has a doctoral degree in Sport and Performance Psychology with an emphasis in Clinical Mental Health Counselling. Ben is a Certified Mental Performance Coach (CMPC) and member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). I talk to Ben about his experiences as both a coach and a sport psychology professional and we discuss the factors inherent in high performance coaching environments.

I’m delighted to speak with Matthew Layton this week. Matt is head of youth development phase at Swansea City Football Club. He manages the multidisciplinary staff departments and the players within the youth development phase to support and coordinate their pathway throughout the programme into the professional development phase. Matt and I discuss a brilliant paper he co-wrote with Dr Jamie Taylor and Prof Dave Collins about the measurement, tracking and development practices of academies. The paper is available here https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2023.2289758

I’m delighted to speak with Dr Sam Thrower this week. Sam is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Oxford Brookes University. His main research interests lie in the area of youth sport and specifically the psychosocial development of young athletes. He is particularly interested in topics such as parenting in sport, sport-confidence, motivational climates, stress and coping, and anti-doping in sport. Sam’s research in these areas has been published in a range of leading international journals including: ‘Psychology of Sport & Exercise’, ‘Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise & Health’, ‘Sport, Exercise & Performance Psychology’, ‘Journal of Applied Sport Psychology’ and 'Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology'. His current research focuses on parent-child interactions and the development, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based sport parent education programmes. In this episode we discuss a paper Sam led about enhancing wellbeing, long-term development, and performance in youth sport.

I’m delighted to speak with Dr Shakiba Moghadam this week. Shakiba is a chartered psychologist with a specific focus on community psychology, as well as sport and exercise psychology. Shakiba currently lectures in psychology and Sport and Exercise psychology at Solent University. Shakiba graduated with a first-class honours degree in BSc Psychology from the University of Portsmouth and completed her MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of Portsmouth. Shakiba’s research predominantly focuses on mental health literacy and athlete mental health, experiences of women athletes in male dominated sports, human rights violations in sports, and the experiences of marginalised communities such as refugees and asylum seekers. She is one of four leads on the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science’s SEPAR equality, diversity, and inclusivity workshops where much of her work focuses on providing training on cultural competence in practice for upcoming sport and exercise psychologists. Shakiba is also the Chair of the British Psychological Society’s Human Rights Advisory Group.

This week I’m delighted to speak to Dr Charlie Corsby, Prof Robyn Jones and Dr Andy Lane. Charlie is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Charlie holds a UEFA ‘A’ Licence coaching qualification. Alongside his academic responsibilities, Charlie is the Head Coach for Cardiff Met FC BUCS1 programme.​ The focus of Charlie’s research relate to the everyday complexities and affairs of coaches, particularly relating to ‘influence’ and ‘control’ within the coaching context. Robyn is Professor of Sport and Social Theory and a former Associate Dean of Research at Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK. Robyn’s research area comprises a critical sociology of coaching in respect of examining the relational nature of the work, and how practitioners manage the power-ridden dilemmas that arise. The purpose is to generate critical insight into an important part of cultural life, namely that of sports participation, and how that complex experience is framed by coaches Andy is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching at Cardiff Metropolitan University. He is currently the Programme Director for the BSc Sport Coaching Undergraduate degree and teaches across undergraduate and post graduate programmes. Andrew also currently supervises a number of post graduate students within coaching and coach education and is a member of the Schools Social Science ethics committee. We discuss a paper co-written by Charlie, Robyn and Andy entitled “Contending with vulnerability and uncertainty: what coaches say about coaching”.

I’m delighted to speak with Prof Chris Harwood this week. Chris is the Director of the Sport, Health and Performance Enhancement (SHAPE) Research Centre at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). He is a Professor of Sport Psychology at NTU where his research focuses on the psychosocial aspects of athlete development, wellbeing and performance including the roles of the coach, parents, and the wider social and organisational environment. Chris is particularly focused on the integration of psychological principles into youth sport settings and his applied research is characterised by working with the support system around young people. Chris is also prominent in the area of professional development, supervision and training of sport psychologists in the UK and international systems. We speak about Chris’s research over the past 30 years, focusing on Achievement Goal Theory, Reflection-in-Action, and the 5 C’s: Commitment, Communication, Concentration, Control, and Confidence.

I am delighted to welcome back Dr Ian Peek in this episode. Ian has been a golf coach for 35 years. He is currently consulting with the Swiss Golf Federation supporting the coaches at national and regional level and supporting parents at some of the leading juniors in the country. Ian helps his clients achieve their goals whether that’s transitioning to a new level of achievement or maintaining their position at the top of their sport or industry. Ian is also a PGA Master Professional - the highest educational level in The PGA - which recognises PGA Members who make a significant effort to improve themselves as golf professionals and maintain the highest degree of excellence for themselves and their operations. In this episode Ian and I discuss the mental health challenges that professional sport competitors face when competing at the very highest level of their game.