In this episode of Finding the Edge podcast, we delve into the process-oriented vs results-oriented dichotomy. We discuss the importance of a principled-based approach, developing adaptable athletes, pitch calling strategies, and creating effective practice environments. Emphasizing the need for athletes to balance conviction with adaptability, we explore how these elements come together for successful performance. Intro music by: Muellzy @muellzymusic Support Us & learn more about Eco...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 61
In this episode we discussion the core principles of transfer of training for skill development. How do we develop skill and have the things we do in practice transfer to the game? We delve into the importance of understanding and applying ecological dynamics concepts such as the constraint-led approach and representative learning design to develop skills that transfer to the game. Intro music by: Muellzy @muellzymusic Support Us & learn more about Ecological Dynamics (links below) Don...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 60
In this episode we dive into the concept of skilled intentionality with regards to the pitcher-batter interaction. We explore how intention shapes a player's behavior and performance, the importance of perceiving relevant information within the game (becoming attuned) and being calibrated is the basis for successful performance outcomes. We also discuss practical training strategies and the nuances of guiding player intentions. 00:00 Introduction and Recap 00:12 Understanding Skilled Intentional...
Mar 24, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 59
In this episode of the Finding the Edge Podcast, we explore the fundamentals of ecological dynamics and its application for baseball. We discuss the mutual relationship between athletes and their environment, the importance of variability and attunement to specifying information, and the idea of skilled intentionality. The conversation touches on player autonomy, collaborative coaching, and how ecological dynamics can lead to better transfer of training from practice to game scenarios. Intro mus...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 58
This episode we had on Zach Jungles, Jared Slater, and Rob Blanc on to discuss their personal experiences utilizing Square 1 with their athletes. Zach Jungles is a strength coach who has worked with athletes from the high school level to the professional level. He and Jared Slater will be teaming up to bring Square 1 to the Charleston, South Carolina area soon! Rob Blanc works remotely with many baseball players nationally and works in the health and wellness industry overseeing multiple health ...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 57
On this episode we had on Kyle Dupic who recently was hired at Wartburg College as their new co-pitching coach. Kyle has spent the past 7 years coaching at the high school level. He has more recently been diving into applying an ecological approach to pitching and we had him on the podcast to discuss his coaching experience with this new approach. Intro music by: Muellzy https://soundcloud.com/muellzymusic Support Us & learn more about Ecological Dynamics (links below) Donate to Finding th...
Dec 17, 2024•1 hr 55 min•Ep. 56
In this episode we had on Jared Slater a sports performance coach who go his BS in Exercise Science from Division II Missouri Western University, where he pitched for the Griffins. Since then he worked at TCU under Zach Dechant and most recently at Tred Athletics. Jared has recently integrated Square 1 a motor control restoration system to the work he does with baseball players with great success. Today we explore how Jared has integrated Square 1 into how he develops athletes. Intro music by: M...
Nov 18, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 55
In this episode we have on former guest of the show Max Bay. Max most recently worked for the Huston Astros in their R&D department. In this episode Max advocates for the use of mix effects models for gaining deeper insights for player evaluations and development. Intro music by: Muellzy https://soundcloud.com/muellzymusic Support Us & Learn More About Ecological Dynamics (links below) Donate to Finding the Edge: buymeacoffee.com/ftepod Ecological Dynamics Resources Resources from ...
Aug 15, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 54
In this episode we have on Bill Miller, Tanner Pruett, and Yuji Suzuki to discuss the arm injury epidemic in baseball. The impetus for this conversation was the a podcast that Rob Gray did with Ryan Crotin which you can listen to Rob's podcast episode here ➡️ hhttps://www.youtube.com/live/IWgPTl2oAhs?si=GBEuAzC6Hle-DqcZ Intro music by: Muellzy https://soundcloud.com/muellzymusic Support Us & Learn More About Ecological Dynamics (links below) Donate to Finding the Edge: buymeacoffee.com/...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 53
In this episode we have on Tanner Pruett and Yuji Suzuki to discuss the arm injury epidemic in baseball. The impetus for this conversation was the a podcast that Rob Gray did with Randy Sullivan and Alan Jaeger which you can listen to Rob's podcast episode here --> https://open.spotify.com/episode/7FABPm3pDXepA5P35CI8Qy?si=7pETOZE-SBOyVn5veXzRuA Intro music by: Muellzy https://soundcloud.com/muellzymusic Support Us & Learn More About Ecological Dynamics (links below) Donate to Finding t...
Jun 11, 2024•1 hr 44 min
In this episode we have on Ben Franks, a senior lecturer in applied coaching sciences at Oxford Brookes University. We discuss Ben's current work with cricket batters and how it can relate to baseball. Intro music by: Muellzy https://soundcloud.com/muellzymusic Support Us & Learn More About Ecological Dynamics (links below) Donate to Finding the Edge: buymeacoffee.com/ftepod Ecological Dynamics Resources Resources from Emergence a movement skill education company dedicated to helping c...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 51
In this episode, we have on Tanner Pruett discusses his coaching journey and how it has evolved over time. Tanner played baseball at Modesto Junior College in CA and Crown College in MN. He began his coaching career at Starters Sports Training and went on to coach at St Cloud State University, Tread Athletics and is currently a pitching instructor at Mash Baseball and a volunteer pitching coach at North Central University. In this episode we discuss the importance of allowing athletes to explore...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 50
In this episode, we share our thoughts on the 2023 Sport Movement Skill Conference hosted by Emergence. In our conversation, we explore the importance of discovering the ecosystem of Art and Science, where it lives and breaths within an Ecological Approach. We discuss the need for athletes to be adaptable and resourceful in dynamic sporting contexts. The conversation highlights the role coaches play in creating practice environments that foster exploration and problem-solving. We discuss the val...
Dec 13, 2023•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 49
This week we talk about Cody Bellinger, Luis Arraez, Expected Stats, and Weighted Runs Above Average. Intro music by: Muellzy https://soundcloud.com/muellzymusic Support Us & learn more about Ecological Dynamics (links below) Donate to Finding the Edge: buymeacoffee.com/ftepodEcological Dynamics Resources Resources from Emergence a movement skill education company dedicated to helping coaches learn how to apply an ecological approach to understanding and developing movement skill. Get ...
Dec 12, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 48
We have back on Chad Longworth and Bill Miller back on to discuss a twitter post Chad made on Coach like a Farmer. https://x.com/clongbaseball/status/1686165575007903744?s=20 Check out Chad Longworth's work linked below: LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/clongbaseball Website: https://chadlongworthonline.com/ Social media: Twitter: @clongbaseball Instagram: @clongbaseball Check out Bill Miller's work links below: LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/Billmillertraining Social Media Twi...
Nov 03, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 47
We have back on Chad Longworth back on to discuss a blog post he wrote Winning And Learning: Exploring The Benefits of Growth Through Losing. https://www.chadlongworth.com/blogs/player-development/winning-and-learning-exploring-the-benefits-of-growth-through-losing Check out Chad Longworth's work linked below: LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/clongbaseball Website: https://chadlongworthonline.com/ Social media: Twitter : @clongbaseball Instagram : @clongbaseball Support Us & learn mor...
Sep 21, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 46
In this episode we had on Andrew Wilson Professor at Leeds Beckett University. Major themes discussed were data collection and reporting, prospective control, and taking an Ecological approach to data analytics. Support Us & learn more about Ecological Dynamics (links below) Looking for an in-depth interactive introductory course on Ecological Dynamics? Checkout The Movement Academy Intro course next cohort starting 2/27/23! Get 7% OFF using the code: EDGE7 https://emergentmvmt.com/product/t...
Feb 20, 2023•2 hr 19 min•Ep. 45
In this episode, we discuss the importance of being able to integrate our exploration back into getting better on the field. One of the major mistakes that many people make who go all in on exploring to become more athletic often coaches end up programming activities to explore just for the sake of exploration. We don't want them to get good at doing random novel tasks but figure out how to perform more consistently and effectively come game time. Therefore it's imperative that coaches discover ...
Jan 10, 2023•2 hr 41 min
In this episode, we riff off of a video by Rafe Kelley from Evolve Move Play where Rafe and John Vervaeke are discussing the idea of Serious Play. We explore what it means to be a good coach and how you can utilize play to facilitate engagement, growth, and development. We also interacted with a few other video clips from Inning by Inning and Bruce Lee's movie Enter the Dragon. Links to things featured in this episode: Why Serious Play is Transformative! By Rafe Kelley https://youtu.be/zDnNONr2k...
Jan 02, 2023•2 hr 43 min
Goodhart's law is an important concept for coaches and analysts to keep in mind to maintain an edge when technology, data, and analytics are so pervasive in today's game. Simply following the current trends in the tech and data space may lead coaches, players, and organizations to misuse their analytics departments resulting in players underperforming on the field given the underlying data analysis. In this episode, we discuss the limitations we currently see with chasing metrics and how using a...
Nov 17, 2022•2 hr 23 min•Ep. 42
This week we have Chad Longworth back on the podcast. Chad is a self-professed curiosity junkie, it is what defines him and his journey. As a coach, he believes that his playing career is completely irrelevant to helping players with their journey, other than his ability to relate as he's been there and knows how it feels. Chad is a facility owner and player development coach in Virginia. In this episode, we discuss some of the principles which we think underpin hitting, how different constraint...
Oct 31, 2022•2 hr 41 min•Ep. 41
In this episode, we brought Jackie Wu on to learn more about her and her course TheraPlay which takes a games-based approach to injury rehabilitation. In addition to incorporating play to recover from injury, play is a great way to stay healthy and make you more resilient to injury. If you would like to learn more about her course please email Jackie at strengththerapyhelp@gmail.com or email us at FTEpod@gmail.com. We had a great discussion exploring the various educational resources we each hav...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 40
After a little hiatus, we're back with guest Bill Miller. Bill is unique in baseball, as he works with players both as a Strength and Conditioning Coach and Skills Coach. In our opinion, this is the future of sports coaching where the sport coach has a fundamental understanding of both strength and conditioning and motor learning principles. Topics covered in this episode were: Power Development and Post Activation Potentiation (PAP) Workload management How Javlin training can be applied to pitc...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 39
This week we had on Julian Gonalez who recently got hired by the Orioles as Hitting Coach in the Dominican Republic. In this episode we had very emergent discussion where we explored the psychological side of the game through an ecological lens. This led us to explore how breathing and arousal regulation play into performance and how can we incorporate them into our training environments. Follow Julian on Twitter @ABRHitting Resources discussed in this podcast were: The Mental Keys to Hitting by...
Feb 07, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 38
In this week's episode, we had Caleb Abney back on with Garrett to have an emergent discussion while watching the Brewers vs Braves NLDS Game 4 in which we discuss some of the practical applications of an Ecological Approach in the context of watching a playoff game. A time-stamped outline of the topics we cover in this episode is listed below for your convenience. 00:00 | Introduction 03:04 | Intro Music 03:22 | Start of the Episode: Game Commentators 05:26 | Giants v Dodgers Gavin Lux 107 EV F...
Nov 11, 2021•59 min•Ep. 37
This week we had on Max Bay to discuss some of his Twitter threads analyzing baseball. We discussed the pitching metrics he came up with Stuff+, Location+, and Pitching+ and their implications. We also discussed how to get started doing data analysis with baseball data using R. Other topics we covered were can you teach command?, Command vs control, what can spray angle tell us?, and much more. If you're not already, make sure to follow Max @Choice_Fielder | Join our Discord: https://bit.ly/30eO...
Oct 26, 2021•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 36
In this episode, we had recurring guest of the show, Caleb Abney, back on to discuss one of his tweets on creating challenging practice environments that generated a lot of discussion and engagement on Twitter. In this conversation, we covered the art of coaching, how to introduce challenging task design, information scaling with using a pitching machine, thoughts and cognitions, as well as how the interaction of coach, player, team dynamics play into skill performance and development. Additiona...
Sep 10, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 35
In this episode, we have another emergent discussion that we record back in June after our spring seasons had ended. The discussion started with a reflection on our previous episode with Ted Monnich on how flow states can fit within an Ecological Approach to skilled behavior. We also explored the ecological concept of affordances and the role of thoughts and cognition play within the perception of affordances. We wrap up our conversation discussing the power of narrative to facilitate buy-in whe...
Sep 01, 2021•50 min
In this episode, we have on Ted Monnich a sport psychology consultant who is currently getting his PhD studying flow state. Our discussion was around flow state and what things coaches and athletes can do to help facilitate getting into flow on the field. We also touched on how to deal with performance anxiety, group flow, how this could fit within an ecological approach to movement skill, and more. Ted Monnich's website: http://tedmonnich.com/index.htm Book Recommendations The Mind within the B...
Mar 02, 2021•1 hr 15 min
In this episode, we had George Zirkel Pitching Coordinator at MSI Baseball in PA, back on the podcast to discuss workload management. We had an emergent discussion where we also explored the potential limitations of an Ecological approach, co-designing training plans with athletes, player relationships, the importance of intrinsic motivation, purposeful catch play, the role of visualization in practice, Motus, weighted balls, and much more. Buckle up for this in-depth conversation with George Zi...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 42 min
