I recently had a conversation with two people who I consider to be changemakers in the talent development space. Brett Holland and Sion Kitson, are at the frontline of bringing about a transformation in how we nurture young talent. They are overseeing a shift from the rigid, linear and highly centralised methods of old to a more flexible, decentralised system that recognises the unique journey each athlete embarks upon. As a parent with a son deeply embedded in the England hockey system - I’ve witnessed first-hand the evolution of the approach to developing talent. This shift towards a non-lin ..read more

In a recent episode of the Talent Equation podcast, host Stuart Armstrong and guest Joe Baker, a professor from York University in Canada, discuss the complex world of helping young people reach their potential in sports. They delve into the tyranny of talent, coaching and athlete development, the pros and cons of long-term athlete development models, and the importance of promoting diversity in youth sports. The Complicated Reality of Talent Professor Baker has spent the last 25 years researching athlete development, talent prediction, and modelling. In his recent book, "The Tyranny of Talen ..read more

Chris Cushion is Professor of Coaching & Pedagogy at Loughborough University as well as the Head of Coaching at England Netball. Chris is one of the most well known researchers in the world of sports coaching and has published widely. Chris joined me to disuss the nature of 'direct instruction' which is often a contentious subject in the world of sports coaching. Chris and I have disagreed in the past about this subject so we thought it was high time we got together and had a proper discussion about it. Needless to say, we didn't stop there...we also discussed... How poor coach education ..read more

I have been following Rob McGarr on You Tube for some time. His videos are a refreshing and honest insight to the challenges of improving in sport (it just so happens that he is a golfer). As I have followed along with the ups and downs of Rob's search for answers to the challenges that the game presents, I have watched him engage with several coaches with very different philosophies and approaches and then observed as he tried to take the knowledge and embed it into his game. I found it harder and harder to watch - I saw Rob struggle with conflicting technical information and I also saw how h ..read more

Rob McGarr is a YouTuber who has been documenting the ups and downs of his journey of improvement in golf for several years. His honest video diary has seen him travel all over the UK and Europe in search of information that will help him reach his goals of playing consistent scratch golf. His channel is fantastic and I really enjoy it but I have also been struck by the interactions he has had with many coaches, and the different philosophies that they adopt and the approaches they take and how this has affected his performance, adversely or otherwise. (for evidence of his commitment to improv ..read more

Adam Kelly is a Senior Lecturer and the Course Leader for Sports Coaching and Physical Education at Birmingham City University. He consults with international institutions and organisations in a number of professional sports, including football, rugby union, cricket, swimming, squash, and ice hockey. In this conversation Adam and I explore the latest research into a range of more equitable talent development and competition frameworks that recognise the 'non linear' nature of talent development and allow for more individualised development opportunities for young athletes. We discuss the rela ..read more

Sometimes the stars align and the article you have just published speaks perfectly to the next guest you booked on your podcast. As a perfect alternative to what we read about in my post about ‘The Lamentable Lemmings of Talent Development’ we are introduced to this brilliant case study of a club that has decided not to throw itself off the cliff in the race to the bottom but to do it differently... This weeks episode I speak to Martin Erikstad who is a researcher at the Department of Public Health, Sport and Nutrition, Universitetet i Agder in Norway. Martin has just published a fascinating c ..read more

This is one of those posts that is probably going to get me into trouble... But I can't stay silent anymore... My father used to say, "if you hold someone's coat...you may as well have punched the other bloke in the face yourself". In other words....if you enable things to happen by doing nothing, then you are complicit in creating the problem in the first place". It was his version of the famous quote by Edmund Burke “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (sic) to do nothing.” So I need to write this...whatever the personal or professional consequences... Here goes ..read more

Dr Mustafa Sarkar is an Associate Professor of Sport and Performance Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. His research focuses on the psychology of sporting excellence and its application to other high performance domains. His work addresses how high achievers thrive on pressure and deliver sustained success with a particular focus on team, and organisational resilience as well as personal and team growth and thriving. In this conversation we explore Mustafa's own experiences as an aspiring athlete and his own challenges with responding to performance pressures. We also explore the natu ..read more

Joe Baker is Professor at the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University. He makes a welcome return to the podcast along with his research associate, Alexandra 'Sandy' Mosher. Joe's research team focuses on optimal human development to understand how someone gets to, and stays at, the highest levels of performance. His previous research in this area has considered various psychosocial and environmental factors influencing athletic skill development across a range of sports to catalogue the extensive range of factors affecting an athlete's capacity to maximize their potential ..read more