The Sport Psych Show

I speak to Dr Suzanne Brown in this week's episode. Suzanne is a clinical psychologist specialising in mental health and performance. She works with individuals in one-to-one therapy and with elite organisations in sport, business and education. With over 14 years of experience, she has pioneered a new way of working that bridges clinical psychology with elite performance, helping people to achieve emotional fitness across all areas of their life. We speak about mental health in sport and how understanding yourself better can help you to flourish personally and professionally.

I'm delighted to speak to Amy Williams MBE in this week's episode. Amy was a Gold Medal winner in the women's Skeleton 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. She won Great Britain's first gold medal in an individual event for 30 years, and the first by a woman for 58 years. Amy retired as an athlete in 2012 and has spent the years since doing television presenting roles, public appearances and motivational speaking. Amy has a book coming out on October 8th entitled Talent to Triumph: How Athletes Turn Potential into High Performance in which Amy guides the reader through their entire sporting journey, using her own experiences and those of some of Britain's greatest athletes to help turn talent into your triumph. You'll learn about mindset, confidence, teamwork, overcoming barriers & setbacks, dealing with injuries, longevity, training & preparation, talent identification schemes, maximising competition/match day outcomes.

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr Ed Cope & Prof Chris Cushion. Ed is a lecturer in Sport Coaching at Loughborough University. He completed his BSc in Sport Coaching from Leeds Beckett University, his MSc in Sports Coaching Science from the University of Worcester and his PhD at the University of Bedfordshire. Ed has also worked at the English Football Association, where he was responsible for the design and development of their education courses. Chris is Professor of Coaching and Pedagogy at Loughborough University. Starting out as a football coach, Chris has worked at every level of the game – from community schemes, grassroots football and academy professional clubs at all age levels. Ed and Chris have come back on the show to further discuss the topic of 'direct instruction' in coaching. Specifically, we speak about Barak Rosenshine's principles of instruction, linking them to sports coaching.

I speak to Dr Camilla Knight in this week's episode. Camilla is a professor at Swansea University specialising in sport psychology, particularly in youth sport. Her particular area of interest is around parent involvement in sport. Camilla completed her BSc and MSc at Loughborough University, and her PhD at the University of Alberta in Canada. She is also the lead of the Welsh Research Advisory and Evaluation group for the Child Protection in Sport Unit, a member of the Welsh Safeguarding in Sport Strategy group, and the Youth Sport lead for the Welsh Institute of Performance Science. We speak about parents in sport: the challenges they face; helping coaches understand their perspective; and simple ways that coaches can help to create a parent-positive environment.

I'm delighted to speak to Dr Alex Auerbach in this week's episode. Alex is the Director of Wellness and Development for the Toronto Raptors, where he is responsible for all things mental health, mental performance and off-court development for players and staff. He joined the Raptors after serving as the Director of Clinical and Sport Psychology for the University of Arizona. Alex has worked with NCAA Division-I schools in the Pac-12, ACC, Big 12, and Conference USA, where his work has included serving as the performance consultant for a Conference USA bowl-winning football team, ACC championship team, and student-athletes who continued in professional sport and/or the Olympic games. He earned his doctoral degree in counselling psychology with a specialisation in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of North Texas.

I'm delighted to speak with Dr Marina Harris and Shameema Yousuf in this episode. Marina recently graduated with her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nevada. She also has a Master's degree in Kinesiology and Health with an emphasis in sport psychology from Miami University. She also spends part of her time in the University of North Carolina Athletics Department, working with athletes to improve their mental wellness and sport performance. Shameema is a HCPC registered sport psychologist, registered clinical mental health counsellor and is a member of APA, AASP, and BASES. Shameema has a private practice working with youth athletes all the way up to elite athletes. We discuss a fantastic paper Marina recently wrote entitled "Simone Biles and Team USA Redefine Mental Toughness - The true definition of mental grit and what we can learn from it" which Shameema provided her expert opinion on.

I speak to Jonny McMurtry in this week's episode. Jonny has been involved in high performance age grade rugby programmes across Australia for over 10 years. He is currently completing research in conjunction with University of QLD and Rugby Australia, looking at age grade players' engagement and understanding what motivates, engages and drives players' participation. Jonny's background and passion is understanding people's motivation and helping them achieve what they are striving to accomplish in sport and work environments. We speak about Jonny's findings from his fascinating research project.

I'm so excited to speak to Geir Jordet in this week's episode. Geir is Professor of Sport Psychology with a specialisation in football (soccer) and coaching at Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. Geir conducts research on the psychology of football - with an emphasis on visual perception, effective learning, performing under pressure, and psychology applied to elite level football. His work has been published in leading sport science and psychology journals such as Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, Journal of Sports Sciences, British Journal of Sports Medicine, and British Journal of Psychology, as well as in major media outlets - BBC World, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, El Pais and Spiegel. Geir and I speak about building habits, scanning, penalty kicks and the 2020 Euro's.

In this episode I'm delighted to have Laurence Halsted back on the show. Laurence is a 2-time Olympian for the British Fencing team and director of mentoring for The True Athlete Project (TAP) as well as a consultant on TAPs various programs. TAP works across disciplines to design mindful training techniques that engage sport as a powerful tool for self-mastery and increased overall awareness. The practical, athlete-centred approach to changing the culture of sport aims to improve performance, nurture mental wellbeing, and cultivate a more compassionate world.​ In this episode, Laurence takes us though his brilliant new book Becoming a True Athlete: A Practical Philosophy for Flourishing Through Sport (due out 20th Aug 2021). The book draws on a combination of ancient wisdom and modern psychology, The True Athlete Philosophy explores how athletes can harness their lived experience of sport to contribute to a healthy, meaningful and fulfilled life and be of greater benefit to their community.

I'm delighted to welcome back Dr Noel Brick on this week's episode. This time, Noel is joined by Scott Douglas. Noel is a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Ulster University. He has a Masters in Sport and Exercise Psychology and a PhD in Attentional Focus and Psychological Strategies in Endurance Activity. Scott is a writer and editor in fitness and health and has written 15 books. And it's his latest book, written alongside Noel, that we speak about in this episode. The Genius of Athletes: What World-Class Competitors Know That Can Change Your Life combines cutting-edge science, illustrative stories from the world's top endurance athletes and practical instruction. Elite endurance athletes - including runners, cyclists, and swimmers - know that success hinges as much on how they use their minds as on how well they've trained their bodies. Long before race day, they've developed a rich arsenal of cognitive strategies that they incorporate into their long-term training regimens to unlock peak performance, from effective goal-setting and ingenious habit forming techniques to developing resilience and increasing self-belief. And now a growing body of evidence is showing that these strategies can help the rest of us achieve whatever we set our minds to in sport and life. The Genius of Athletes arms us with proven tools for reaching high and meeting our goals - whether it's running a marathon or any other personal or professional challenge.