Transforming a whole sport system over a curry - a conversation with Scott McNeill

Scott McNeill is a Performance Coach Developer for GB Hockey, a Performance Director for the Canoe Association of Northern Ireland as well as a mentor for the Premier League.

He has been part of a group of people that have led a transformation within GB Field Hockey to redevelop the player development system in line with the principles of Ecological Dynamics.

In this fascinating conversation, Scott describes the journey of bringing about this change within the sport and some of the key pillars of embedding these concepts and ideas into the psyche of the playing and coaching community.

While this discussion explores how this is done on a whole sport scale, the ideas and approaches that are shared by Scott apply to anybody looking to foster a player centred environment which allows players to thrive and develop.

Even though I have been on this journey with Scott and his colleagues as a coach and coach developer, I still found the conversation fascinating and insightful. I know you will too!!

Enjoy!!

This Podcast is brought to you by a great new book called 'Conversations for the Journey - 40 ways to build sporting character' by Richard Shorter from www.non-perfectdad.co.uk. It is a great book packed full of useful ideas and questions to engage the young sports athlete. It is great to parents but also great for coaches (a proper stocking filler!)

Subscribers to The Talent Equation can get a special 10% discount if they click on this link

What the Blues Brothers would say about skill acquisition - A conversation with Dr Phil Kearney

Phil Kearney is a researcher, lecturer and coach. He is based at the University of Limerick in Ireland and is one of the 'Great Triumvirate' of Irish skill acquisition leaders along with Ed Coughlan and Olly Logan.

In this episode we really dig into some of the research behind skill acquisition and its application including...

• Looking at Fundamental Movement Skills in a different way.

• The limited transfer that comes from low variability movements.

• Understanding the 'dose requirement of skill acquisition.

• How the constraints based approach can help to develop practices that will do the teaching for you.

And a whole lot more...

Hope you enjoy.

Developing coaches from Stamford to Santiago - A conversation with Juan Gonzalez-Mendia

Juan Gonzalez Mendia from www.sudamericacoaching.com is a coach and coach developer that is working to bring non linear approaches to South America.

He works with schools, clubs, provincial associations and national governing bodies to help them to embrace player centred development philosophies and approaches.

In this episode we explore...

• The issues that people have with embracing non linear approaches

• How to help a boss or leader to recognise that they need external support to improve their teams coaching

• The challenges that he faces in developing coaches that are resistant to change (we have a little but of fun role playing this)

It is a fascinating conversation and a great insight as to how the ecological approach is spreading across the globe.

Enjoy

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