The Sport Psych Show

Dan Abrahams
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The Sport Psych Show

Join Sport Psychologist, Dan Abrahams, on The Sport Psych Show as he aims to demystify sport psychology for players, coaches and parents by speaking with some of the most influential people in sports performance today. Dan is on a mission to learn more about how sport psychology philosophies, tools and techniques positively impact participation, progression and performance in sport. He wants to learn more about how to drive participation – what motivational tools engage players and inspire people to play and stay in their sport. He wants to explore how players can progress quicker and more effectively – what is great practice and training? And how does learning in sport really happen? Finally, he wants to hear what his guests have to say about the psychology of performance – how do they think players can improve their ability to high perform consistently under pressure? Discover simple and practical tools and techniques by listening in to Dan’s conversations with elite competitors, sports coaches, sport scientists, and psychologists.

  1. #315 Dr Alex Auerbach - The Pursuit of Excellence

    3 MAR

    #315 Dr Alex Auerbach - The Pursuit of Excellence

    I’m delighted to speak to Dr Alex Auerbach in this week’s episode. Alex is a performance psychologist working with the best athletes in the world in the NBA, NFL, MLB, and Olympians, as well as high-performers in other domains like elite military units, Fortune 5 companies, and venture-backed start-ups. Alex was formerly Director of Wellness and Development for the Toronto Raptors, where he was responsible for all things mental health, mental performance and off-court development for players and staff. Alex has worked with NCAA Division-I schools in the Pac-12, ACC, Big 12, and Conference USA, where his work has included serving as the performance consultant for a Conference USA bowl-winning football team, ACC championship team, and student-athletes who continued in professional sport and/or the Olympic games. He earned his doctoral degree in counselling psychology with a specialisation in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of North Texas. Alex and I discuss his brilliant new book “Called to Greatness: Your Personal Playbook for the Pursuit of Excellence”.

    1h 8m
  2. #314 Dr Matthew Andrew - Developmental Activities that Underpin Expert Performance

    17 FEB

    #314 Dr Matthew Andrew - Developmental Activities that Underpin Expert Performance

    I’m delighted to speak with Dr Matthew Andrew this week. Matthew is a senior lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University. He previously lectured at Liverpool John Moores University in Expert Performance and Learning. Matthew is interested in skill acquisition and talent identification and development. In this episode Matthew and I discuss a study he led which examined talent development in female soccer. The study examined developmental activities engaged in by professional female soccer players in England.

    51 min
  3. #313 Dr Hillary Cauthen - Supporting Players Through Trauma

    3 FEB

    #313 Dr Hillary Cauthen - Supporting Players Through Trauma

    I’m delighted to speak with Dr Hillary Cauthen this week. Hillary is a clinical sport psychologist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) with over 17 years experience working within the field of sport and performance psychology. She is an active member in her local community and professional associations, such as Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), and American Psychological Association - Division 47 (Society for Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology). Hillary is the Founder and Director of Texas Optimal Performance & Psychological Services (TOPPS) - working with individuals, families, teams, and groups to improve mental health, as well as athletic, social, academic, and professional performance.   Hillary formerly served as the Director of Organizational Wellness & Performance for Austin FC and was the performance psychologist for the San Antonio Spurs, where she developed their mental performance and wellness programs. Hillary has developed private businesses that bring mental wellness curriculum to school districts across the nation, as well as an analytics company that helps predict the behavioural risk factors in players for teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and Premier League. Her work in high performance is breaking down stigma across communities which is highlighted in her book "Hello Trauma, Our Invisible Teammate.”

    41 min
  4. #312 Dr Sebastian Harenberg - Exploring Positional Competition

    20 JAN

    #312 Dr Sebastian Harenberg - Exploring Positional Competition

    I’m delighted to speak with Dr Sebastian Harenberg this week. Sebastian is Associate Professor in Sport Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC). He also provides mental performance consulting services to athletes and community members. Sebastian and I discuss positional competition, i.e. the competition for playing time in team sports.  Sebastian completed a combined Bachelor and Master of Education in English and Physical Education at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Sebastian continued his education with a doctoral degree in Kinesiology and Health studies with an emphasis on sport psychology at the University of Regina. He then worked 2 years as a research scientist at the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region until he joined Ithaca College in New York as an Assistant Professor for Research Methods and Statistics.  Sebastian’s main research interests lie in two areas: 1. Group Dynamics – his research examines processes that affect team hierarchies (competition within teams, selection, deselection), and 2. Perceptual Cognitive Training – using technology, he examines different technologies to sharpen the cognitive skills of athletes and various other populations.

    57 min
  5. #311 Dr Caz Nahman & Dr Andrew Kirkland - Considering Language and Environments for Good Mental Health

    6 JAN

    #311 Dr Caz Nahman & Dr Andrew Kirkland - Considering Language and Environments for Good Mental Health

    I’m delighted to speak to Dr Caz Nahman and Dr Andrew Kirkland in this week’s episode. We discuss the role of language and the environment when considering mental health in sport. Caz is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. Caz has also completed additional training in sport psychiatry with the ISSP (International Society for Sport Psychiatry) and is currently Deputy Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatry Sports and Exercise Psychiatry Special Interest Group. Caz has experience working within a general child and adolescent setting as well as working in in-patient and community eating disorders services. She has previously been an elected member of the RCPsych Eating Disorders Faculty and in this role co-edited a book - New to Eating Disorders - designed as a training tool for staff new to working within this field. Caz’s interests include compulsive overexercise; youth sport; eating disorders in athletes, autism spectrum disorders in athletes, life-style psychiatry and medical education. In addition, she is keen to improve standards of care for athletes with mental health problems. Andrew is a Lecturer in Sports Coaching at the University of Stirling. He is also a member of the General University Ethics Panel, a Chartered Scientist and a BASES Accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist (support & pedagogy). Andrew has worked as a sport physiologist and coach developer at British Cycling and supports others in developing performance environments. Andrew's research philosophy is driven by impact and translation of research into practice. Specifically, he uses Implementation and Behavioural Change Science to explore mental health in sport, 'merging' his practical experience with evidence-based practice with the aim of helping others to develop more effective sporting systems.

    1h 13m
  6. #310 Dr Sam Thrower & Prof Chris Harwood - Developing Parent Education and Support Strategies in Youth Sport

    09/12/2024

    #310 Dr Sam Thrower & Prof Chris Harwood - Developing Parent Education and Support Strategies in Youth Sport

    I’m delighted to speak with Dr Sam Thrower and Prof Chris Harwood this week. We discuss parent education and support strategies in youth sport. Sam is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Oxford Brookes University. His main research interests lie in the area of youth sport and specifically the psychosocial development of young athletes. He is particularly interested in topics such as parenting in sport, sport-confidence, motivational climates and stress and coping. Sam’s research in these areas has been published in a range of leading international journals including: ‘Psychology of Sport & Exercise’, ‘Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise & Health’, ‘Sport, Exercise & Performance Psychology’, ‘Journal of Applied Sport Psychology’ and 'Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology'. His current research focuses on parent-child interactions and the development, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based sport parent education programmes. Chris is the Director of the Sport, Health and Performance Enhancement (SHAPE) Research Centre at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). He is a Professor of Sport Psychology at NTU where his research focuses on the psychosocial aspects of athlete development, wellbeing and performance including the roles of the coach, parents, and the wider social and organisational environment. Chris is particularly focused on the integration of psychological principles into youth sport settings and his applied research is characterised by working with the support system around young people. Chris is also prominent in the area of professional development, supervision and training of sport psychologists in the UK and international systems.

    1h 8m
  7. #309 Rusty Earnshaw & Danny Newcombe - Coaching Skills Toolbox

    02/12/2024

    #309 Rusty Earnshaw & Danny Newcombe - Coaching Skills Toolbox

    I’m delighted to speak with Rusty Earnshaw and Danny Newcombe on this week’s episode. Rusty is a coach and former professional rugby union player. Rusty has played Premiership rugby with West Hartlepool, Bath Rugby and Rotherham Titans, winning the European Cup whilst at Bath. In 2000 he was selected to play for the Barbarians. And he also represented England on the IRB Sevens circuit. Since his playing days he has held various positions at the Rugby Football Union, including International Performance Coach. He is now Director at The Magic Academy, which works across sport and business supporting the development of individuals and teams. Danny is a coach and coach developer. He is currently Senior Coach Development Manager at The Premier League. Until recently, he was a Senior Lecturer in Sport, Coaching and PE in the department of Sport, Health Sciences and Social Work at Oxford Brookes University, UK. He now holds a visiting research fellow post at Oxford Brookes.  Danny is also an international and domestic national league hockey coach. He is currently the head coach of the Men’s Welsh National Team and works extensively with a number of partners in the coach development space. I speak with Rusty and Danny about their considerable coaching experiences and we break down some of the skills they use in their own coaching practices.

    1h 8m
  8. #308 Johnny Gorman - Reflections on Being Released

    25/11/2024

    #308 Johnny Gorman - Reflections on Being Released

    I’m delighted to speak with Johnny Gorman this week. Johnny is a trainee clinical psychologist and former professional footballer.  We speak about the experiences of footballers who were released from clubs at a young age and the impact this had on them, a topic Johnny has recently published a paper on entitled “Inside the football factory: young players’ reflections on being ‘released’”.  There is considerable research on senior players’ mental health outcomes following retirement. However, less attention has been paid to the greater numbers of young players who are deselected each year. Growing research attests to their increased risk of psychological distress including anxiety and depression.  Every year, most young football players experience deselection and for some, this has profound consequences including drug addiction and even death. Yet little is known about these young hopefuls whose careers are abruptly cut short and who are released into a world they are ill-prepared for. This study brings a social psychological lens to examine how social identity processes underpin these consequences.  The paper’s findings contribute to calls for deeper consideration and action around football club culture, and clubs’ responsibility to player welfare, including when players are released.

    1h 12m
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4.6
out of 5
102 Ratings

About

Join Sport Psychologist, Dan Abrahams, on The Sport Psych Show as he aims to demystify sport psychology for players, coaches and parents by speaking with some of the most influential people in sports performance today. Dan is on a mission to learn more about how sport psychology philosophies, tools and techniques positively impact participation, progression and performance in sport. He wants to learn more about how to drive participation – what motivational tools engage players and inspire people to play and stay in their sport. He wants to explore how players can progress quicker and more effectively – what is great practice and training? And how does learning in sport really happen? Finally, he wants to hear what his guests have to say about the psychology of performance – how do they think players can improve their ability to high perform consistently under pressure? Discover simple and practical tools and techniques by listening in to Dan’s conversations with elite competitors, sports coaches, sport scientists, and psychologists.

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