Keep your eye on the ball (or don't...it's up to you) - a conversation with Ben Franks

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

Ben blogs at https://thedevelopmentpathway.wordpress.com/

He can be found 'rattling cages' on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ben__franks1

"Coaching is a mystery rather than a puzzle" - a conversation with Alex Twitchen

Alex Twitchen has spent all his life in coaching.

It is something that he has been able to combine as a career and as a practitioner. He is passionate about learning and development and is as passionate about helping other coaches develop as he is about the development of the players he coaches.

His most recent career move has seen him working in the 'University in the Cloud' so that he can bring more opportunities to help more coaches learn and develop.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode but here are some of the nuggets you will take away by listening...

• Jelly Tot Football

• Trashcan Challenge

• The 'Open Box' curriculum for coaches

• His new project to help coaches to develop other coaches

• The flow between games based and constraints led approaches

Lots to take away!!

Hope you enjoy

"I don't think you can go wrong if you give the players the tools to do it for themselves&q

Anastacia Long has had an amazing coaching journey!

In this enthralling story (that is straight out of the Hollywood archives!) she tells us all about her journey from going from being an elite high board diver to the novice rugby coach of a group of under 15 boys with no previous rugby experience, and how they went all the way to the finals of one of England Rugby’s national schools’ competitions.

In this episode she shares the way in which her coaching approach has evolved and developed and describes the ways in which she had to create an environment which asked the players to lead the activity and self-organise. The story also has some powerful lessons about the power of sport as a way to help bring young people together and develop their resilience and connection.

It is a tale of triumph against adversity, of bucking the trend, beating the odds. there is heartbreak and there is joy. As I said in the podcast, if any movie producers are out there, I want Executive Producer credit!!

I hope you enjoy