Ben Pullen - Using Strength-Based Activities to Empower Children Ben Pullen ( bpullen_coach ) is a PhD student in Paediatric Strength and Conditioning in the Youth Physical Development Centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University. His research investigates the effect of Strength and Conditioning in Physical Education on the athletic motor skill competencies and psychological constructs of school children. Check out his latest peer-reviewed paper here . Ben also owns a private training facility in t...
Feb 15, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 99
My kōrero today is with Mike Schofield ( @rotationalperf ). Mike grew up on a farm in Castlepoint, half an hour out of Masterton on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. He was raised by working-class parents who held fairly typical rural beliefs - you know, be courteous, respect your elders, work hard. Mike loved sport and spent his formative years playing golf. And a lot of it. By his late-teens Mike was good. But, in the words of his then coach, he was told: "you're too small and will...
Feb 01, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 98
"Locking back now, when I was younger I had an ability that my body couldn’t cope with. I had the ability to express a lot of force and speed and I was physically not able to cope with it. Also, technically I wasn’t that great when I was younger." - Chris Donaldson This is a story of the relentless pursuit of excellence. It's also about empathy, and why in sport, you don't get anywhere without it. I met Chris Donaldson on the red rubber of the Caledonian, Dunedin’s athletic track, in 2000. He ha...
Jan 24, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Today's conversation is something different. In episode 75 of the show, I spoke with Austin Einhorn, founder of Apiros , a movement culture out of Santa Cruz in California. Austin works with a range of youth and professional athletes within the US and around the world. In that conversation, we dug into designing training environment for better movement outcomes, the future of sport and performance training, his forthcoming book (which is not far away) and much more. Since then, Austin and I have...
Jan 17, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 96
Nothing beats time spent practising to develop a skill. Getting better requires doing the work. But practice doesn't go the distance unless it's self-motivated. Inner drive is crucial to realising potential - I've seen it play out countless times in aspiring athletes. And there's no better example than David Gerrard - a man who swam for NZ at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Growing up, David would strap his togs to the handlebars, throw his towel around his neck and bike his way the few blocks to the M...
Jan 10, 2021•1 hr 31 min
"One of the most awkward parts of my sessions is when I say to parents, I’d like you just to turn to one another and practice what you’re going to say to your kids when you get the email saying they’re dropped... because parents don’t want to think about that moment." This conversation is with Richard Shorter ( @nonperfectdad ), a conversation architect and non-perfect dad. Richard works with various sports across the UK in professional academy systems, national sporting organisations and school...
Oct 21, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 94
Richard Cheetham ( @twowheelprof ) is a Senior Fellow in Sports Coaching at the University of Winchester. Before that, he spent three years teaching and coaching in New Zealand. Richard was awarded an MBE for his work in Community Education and Sport. He has a strong reputation for creative thinking and innovation within coach education and development and has spent time inside many sporting organisations including Saracens RFC Academy, Fulham Football Club, and more recently, British Triathlon....
Oct 08, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 93
This conversation is with Anna Frost, a mum, a coach, a mentor and a professional mountain, trail and ultra runner, who has raced all over the world. Since starting out in 2004, Anna has assembled a long list of running achievements, including winning Hardrock, a 100-mile race across the Colorado mountains in the US, two years in a row. In this conversation, Annas shares her journey from growing up as a small-town girl in Dunedin, New Zealand, to being one of the best ultra-distance runners in t...
Sep 19, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 92
This conversation is with Dr Matt Whalan , a partner at Figtree Physiotherapy in the Wollongong area in Australia. You can find Matt on Twitter @figtreephysio . Matt also holds a number of practical roles, including Medical and High-performance Manager for the Wollongong Wolves FC and Physiotherapist for the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) National Teams Unit. Matt earned his PhD in 2020, focused on injury prevention in football, and holds a Masters in Physiotherapy. In this conversation,...
Aug 27, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 91
This conversation is with Dr Katie Cunningham , an Associate Professor of Literacy and English Education at Manhattanville College where she teaches literacy methods, teacher research, and children’s literature courses. Katie is the author of "Start With Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness" and "Story: Still the Heart of Literacy Learning." She is the co-author of "Literacy Leadership in Changing Schools" as well as "The Classroom Bookshelf" , a weekly School Library Journal b...
Aug 17, 2020•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 90
“The way that the lessons were set up, they were very much around the sharing and the conversation of ideas. So, if I look back now, it was almost like a campfire conversation you would have, you know, when you think about the learning that was shared, before we ever went to formal learning... The things that I fondly remember were those types of sessions of conversation, learning together, working out, failing together.” - Dusty Miller This conversation in with Dusty Miller , a Performance Ment...
Aug 12, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 89
This conversation is with Dr Andrew Hill, a Professor in Sports Psychology at York St John University in the UK. Andy's main areas of interest are the consequences of perfectionism (an achievement-related personality trait) for athletes, exercisers, and youth sport participants. Andy holds a PhD in the area and has published in leading journals in sport and exercise psychology, health and general psychology. In this episode, Andy talks about the rise of perfectionism over the last 25 years, exac...
Aug 04, 2020•59 min
This conversation is with Sam McKenzie, Coaching Content and Learning Lead at the AFL. Prior to this, Sam was the Junior Coach Development Manager at Auckland Rugby. In 2019, Sam completed his Master's degree at AUT University focusing on 1st XV rugby players' perceptions of their coaching environment. In this conversation, Sam provides his well-informed thoughts on the recent media attention ( https://bit.ly/3d0Dkde ) surrounding the 'commercialisation' of schoolboy rugby in New Zealand. Find o...
May 27, 2020•52 min•Ep. 87
This conversation in with Michael Jennings, Director of Healthy Body at Athlos Education , where he provides virtual and on-site professional development and support for physical educators. He is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist. With a Master’s Degree in both secondary education and exercise physiology, Michael specialises in physical literacy, long term athletic development and the holistic education of all students. In this conversation, Mike shares his thoughts on what p...
May 20, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 86
This conversation in with Dr Paul Read , an accredited strength and conditioning coach and clinical researcher at a specialised Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital in Qatar. His expertise lies in the assessment strategies of lower limb neuromuscular control and injury risk factors. Paul has worked with youth, professional and international athletes in a range of sports including football, athletics, fencing and mixed martial arts. He's also authored numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed ...
May 12, 2020•56 min•Ep. 85
“What we identified was that is was the relatively younger players and later-maturing individuals who were actually more successful at getting League Super appearances.” - Professor Kevin Till In this episode, I chat with Kevin Till, a Professor in the Carnegie School of Sport at Leeds Beckett University . His expertise lies in athletic development, strength and conditioning, coaching and sport science. In our conversation, Kevin shares stories and insight from his PhD and coaching work in youth...
May 09, 2020•51 min•Ep. 84
This conversation in with Chris Juneau, a Qualified Physiotherapist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) who has worked with athletes from junior to the professional level. Chris is currently completing a Masters of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Science at AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand. You can find Chris @Chris_Juneau3 on Twitter or at 'In Good Hands Physiotherapy' in Browns Bay. In this conversation, Chris and I talk specifically about managing injuries in youth b...
Apr 23, 2020•54 min•Ep. 83
This conversation is with Dr Joe Eisenmann, a translator of scientific knowledge working ‘in the trenches’ with youth athletes and their coaches every day. He is also a scholar in paediatric sports science. Joe has a diverse skill set that includes exercise physiology, human growth and maturation, epidemiology, talent identification, data science and strength and conditioning. Now a visiting Professor of Leeds Beckett University in the UK, Joe completed his doctoral research at Michigan State Un...
Apr 10, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 82
“Everyone is a hero in life, everyone's got a story to tell, everyone's had to face and overcome adversity. And on that basis, being kind just seems like an obvious thing to do.” This conversation in with Chris Bullen, a leader in coach development at High Performance Sport New Zealand. Chris has been working in education and sport for 45 years. In that time, he's provided education for coaches across a wide range of team and individual sports, coached Badminton at the highest level, and taught ...
Mar 25, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 81
This conversation is with Dr Micheál Cahill, Vice President of Performance and Sport Science at Athlete Training and Health in the US. He is also an expert in athletic development. Originally from Ireland, Micheál has spent time working with hundreds of athletes across a broad range of sports from amateur to professional level. His doctoral research examines the development of sprinting speed in youth athletes. In this episode, we discuss the 8-18 year-old programme Micheál founded at ATH. I wan...
Mar 19, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 80
“We’re looking at long-term athlete development, and that requires a lot of patience, coaching and structure to the programme where performance isn’t the end goal. But equally, they also need to cope, if given the opportunity, with first team training, or even playing.” On the show today, I chat with Lead Academy Strength & Conditioning […] The post Ep 79: Paudie Roche – The Arsenal Way appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show...
Sep 27, 2019•1 hr 22 min
“If you focus on what’s important to you and your standards, then that’s really the only thing that should matter… finding your own path and how you do it, I think is just so important.” On the show today I chat with international cricketer, Sophie Devine. Sophie made her first class debut for Wellington at […] The post Ep 78- Sophie Devine – Passion, purpose and playing cricket for New Zealand appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show...
Sep 01, 2019•1 hr 9 min
“I have a kid who could be a pretty good athlete, but if he gets a 97 on a test, his parents ride him because he didn’t get 100… to the point that he’s so completely stressed that we spend a lot of our time doing things that help him change his mindset, so that […] The post Ep 77- Rick Howard – Professor and Expert Youth Fitness Coach appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show...
Aug 22, 2019•57 min
“Relationships are the biggest thing for me. Building relationships and rapport with students is going to create a much more joyful experience for them than probably anything else I can do in my class.” On the show today, I chat with P.E. teacher and PhD student, Peter Verdin. Peter is currently employed as a ‘movement […] The post EP 76- Peter Verdin – Movement Engineering appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show...
Aug 16, 2019•58 min
ADS 075: Austin Einhorn – Movement Banking “Almost every session, whether the client I’m with is 13 or 36, or if they’re a high school athlete who doesn’t want to play in college or they’re a professional athlete, I start with… ‘Hey, what do you want to do today?'” On the show today, I chat […] The post Ep 75 – Austin Einhorn – Movement Banking appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show...
Jul 25, 2019•1 hr 16 min
ADS 074: Dan Exeter – Early specialisation, the modern day sports parent, and formalising informality. On the show today, I chat with Sport and Exercise Physician and father of two, Dan Exeter. Dan is based at Axis Sports Medicine on the North Shore in Auckland, where he specialises in injury prevention and rehabilitation of athletes […] The post Ep 74 -Dan Exeter – Early specialisation, the modern day sports parent, and formalising informality appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the...
Jul 17, 2019•1 hr 19 min
“I think I learnt from quite a young age that I was able to really become more reflective and make more sense of the world at times if I just found my own space, and took an opportunity each day to just be alone for a bit.” On the show today, I chat with endurance […] The post Ep 73- Dougal Allan- Dreaming big, the art of reflection, and becoming the Coast to Coast champion appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show...
Jul 05, 2019•1 hr 5 min
“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower. ” On the show today, I chat with sport psychologist and researcher, Dr Mustafa Sarkar. Mustafa works at Nottingham Trent University in the UK where he is a senior lecturer and researcher, focusing on the psychology of sporting excellence […] The post EP 72- Mustafa Sarkar – How to create psychological resilience appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show...
Jul 01, 2019•1 hr 30 min
“You can rely on talent up until a certain time, whatever talent is, but it’s not going to make you the best in the world. Even though in my late teenage years I had a good amount of support behind me, I didn’t understand what I had to be doing and how to utilise that […] The post EP 71- Tim Driesen – High Performance Athlete Development Leader at Athletics New Zealand appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show...
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 30 min
“If you not keeping them around because your training sux, or you’re not a good guy to hang out with, then you don’t get the opportunity to have everything that you know happen.” On the show today, I chat with Matt Hunter, Director of Youth Sports Performance at Athletic Lab in North Carolina, US. Matt […] The post EP 70 – Matt Hunter – Director of Youth Sports Performance at Athletic Lab appeared first on AUT Millennium News . Support the show...
Jun 04, 2019•1 hr 13 min
