

The Talent Equation Podcast
Stuart Armstrong
The Talent Equation podcast is an 'exploration in human advancement'... mostly (but not exclusively) through the lens of sport and physical activity. Each episode is an 'emergent conversation' with practitioners, parents, researchers, authors (or some combination of all three) taking a deep dive into the ways that people can help others to enhance their developmental journey in whatever field they are committed to. These conversations are not mainstream - you will not hear ideas that are provided on standard education courses - they often fly in the face of convention - they will sometimes be controversial and provocative - the show is about doing things differently and doing different things. The people who come on the show are innovators - they are trying to break new ground or swim against the tide of what they see as a broken culture or an ineffective system - what they say will prompt new thinking or new ideas. All that is asked of the listener is to embrace the conversation with an open mind.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 11, 2021 • 1h 12min
Being a 'woke intruder' or one of the 'fluffy brothers' - a conversation with Andy Pitchford
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 become dominated by notions of performance and toxic hyper competitiveness.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Nov 4, 2021 • 2h 10min
"Coach education is like a preparation for Squid Game - the game shouldn't exist" - a conversation with Andrew Wilson
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.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Oct 14, 2021 • 1h 17min
The 'Stephen Spielberg of Free Play' - a conversation with Jamie Munro
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.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Oct 7, 2021 • 1h 11min
"Becoming a True Athlete: A Practical Philosophy for flourishing through sport" - a conversation with Laurence Cassoe Halsted
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/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Oct 2, 2021 • 1h 17min
"I can: The Teenage Athlete's Guide to Mental Fitness" - a conversation with Dr Josie Perry
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/#icanBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Sep 21, 2021 • 1h 32min
"Teachings from Tokyo" - Craig Morris in conversation with 'The Conclave'
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.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

25 snips
Sep 7, 2021 • 2h 11min
"The Coaching Emperor is Wearing No Clothes" - a conversation with Andy Kirkland
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 enjoyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Jul 21, 2021 • 1h 40min
"Building training and practice around being adaptable is so important" - a conversation with David Hinchliffe
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 enjoyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Jul 9, 2021 • 41min
Dog Walk Diary - Gareth
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.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Jul 5, 2021 • 1h 45min
"Selecting players based on a genetic lottery" – a conversation with Professor Sean Cumming
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 enjoyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation


