​Having come out of the other side of some kind of time loop, from 2019 it is now apparently 2021. With that comes the fact that it is five years since I undertook a coaching trip to America. This became apparent to me whilst listening to the ‘Rugby Revealed’ podcast (thanks David Sharkey for the recommendation) featuring USA Eagles coach Greg McWilliams who I was fortunate to spend some time with whilst on my trip. The rest of my drive was spent fondly reminiscing on the experience and reflecting on what I had learned that had impacted my coaching in the five years since.
 
By 2016 I had been coaching full-time, self-employed since January 2014 and was keen to try to get into new environments and meet as many coaches as possible. Having forged a career in coaching, I knew I had to take it seriously and learn at every opportunity possible. This manifested in a series of interview blogs on this website, ‘Coaching Conversations’, with people such as Jamie Taylor, Peter Jeffrey, Vanessa Keenan, Miguel Rios and more. These were great but I wanted to get more hands on – joining environments for sessions, discussing the plan/reflections and being part of it. A trip to Las Vegas with my wife and a group of friends presented the perfect opportunity to expand my trip so I sent out loads of emails to coaches across America. It began to take shape: Las Vegas, New Haven in Connecticut to visit Yale and then Princeton in New Jersey.
 
Las Vegas
On the morning of Tuesday 5th April 2016 I was buzzing to get through breakfast and into the afternoon. I had arranged to spend time with Leonard Nel, a South African expat, and his Las Vegas Black Hawks high school rugby club. The uber came and immediately admitted he had no clue where we were going but that the SatNav should work. After a brief detour through some of the back streets that Vegas keeps tourists away from, we were soon pushing away from the Strip and into the suburbs towards a local park. Upon arrival there were some teenage boys starting to gather and then I spotted Leonard unpacking some rugby balls. The Natal Sharks rugby shirt was the giveaway and I went over to introduce myself and discuss the session ahead.

I loved it.

Leonard had set the rugby club up, in part due to his two rugby-loving sons who were at a local High School. He was trying to establish a rugby club…in the desert…with local American Football coaches not particularly keen to share their players or facilities. But Leonard’s sheer vision and enthusiasm had created something pretty cool. There were soon between 25 and 30 teenagers warming up, throwing rugby balls around and having a great time with their mates. Leonard welcomed me in, introduced me and got me involved with the session as we worked on some handling, tackling, split forwards and backs and then had a team run and game combination to finish. What shone through was how the boys were drawn to the experience, to Leonard and his family as much as they were to the sport. Talking to some of the boys, they spoke about long Sunday BBQs at the Nel household where they’d watch 6 Nations games together and hang out. They loved the opportunity to throw a rugby ball around, reveled in their participation in a contact sport “without pads” and loved trips away against opposition in different states.
​
The key lessons for me:

• Have a vision, build it and commit to it
• Sport and coaching is more than just training
• As a coach you have to let the players in – get to know them, let them get to know you.
• Connection and shared experiences are king

​
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

As my wife and friends, a little worse for wear, boarded their flight home to London, I was on my way to Hartford, Connecticut, Via Philadelphia. A delay meant that I was sprinting through Philadelphia airport to catch my connection and just about got to the gate in time. My bag did not. Fortunately, there was another flight slightly later so I waited in Hartford airport for it to come in, picked up my car and headed for my AirBnB in New Haven. Having been sitting by a pool in Vegas I was now needing multiple layers - icicles hanging from the street signs in April came as a bit of a surprise.
The next day Yale had an early-season home fixture and I was to meet their Director of Rugby, Greg McWilliams at the playing field. He had been there a year or two at this point and was in the process of trying to make the environment a bit more special for the boys. Lacking a proper changing room, he had converted a shipping container into a changing room and kit store and had the outside painted with the Yale Bulldogs logo. Congenial and welcoming, Greg soon had me pitching in checking the pitch for any stones or disruption from recent storms. Soon James English arrived, another Londoner who was their forwards coach, and the boys soon after.
​
Yale won the friendly convincingly but my main memory came during the first half when I was watching from behind the posts. Someone had wandered over and was stood nearby and soon we were talking. He was a kiwi and looked very, very much like Robbie Deans the former Crusaders and Australia coach. Soon enough, Robbie was explaining that his daughter attended Yale as she was a keen rower and he visited every year and had become involved with helping Greg’s development and coaching the boys.

The following day I headed to the Yale campus for a classroom based day. Greg had booked out a grand looking meeting room for the coaching staff to go through the detail of their playing philosophy that season – defensive systems, attack shape, language, training schedule, culture and more. I was fortunate enough to spend over 3 hours digging into incredible detail with Greg, James, Robbie and Craig Wilson who was, at the time, the Women’s coach but has since replaced Greg as DoR. It was a fascinating insight into how Robbie Deans (and all the coaches) viewed the game, players and coaching and something that was hugely enjoyable. Plenty of it I would end up using or adapting with my own University students the following season. This was then followed by a squad meeting to lay out the plans for the short, medium and long term and to talk through the shapes, frameworks and language that they would be introducing at training the next day.

First up, Craig had offered to meet me on campus for a coffee. He was coming towards the end of a Performance Coaching MSc with the University of Stirling and I had expressed interest in doing something like that, so he insisted we meet for a coffee and he’d show me what it looked like, how it worked and talk me through it. Understanding what was in store really motivated me and I started the same course 5 months later. I loved studying it, now considerably more engaged and enthusiastic than I had been as an 18 year old undergrad. I learned so much from it and there is every chance that I might not have done it were it not for the coffee with Craig. People have asked me about the MSc since and, when location allows, I’ve insisted we go for a coffee to discuss it.

The afternoon was a fun session, a good chance to see the personality of the boys come out a little bit more. What struck me was the need to be really careful around language and the use of jargon. Most of the players hadn’t grown up in a rugby environment like we had, which meant our language whilst coaching had to be really accurate, specific and something they would understand. I was soon struck by a familiar feeling from Las Vegas. I was coaching in such a different environment, thousands of miles from home and loving every second, trying to absorb and appreciate it as much as I could. There was to be another training session the next day and I was going to spend some time with the scrum halves, something I really thought I’d be able to add value to. I couldn’t wait.

Best laid plans and all that...

I walked out of my AirBnB and my rental car wasn’t there. Nowhere to be seen. Having walked up and down the street hoping I had completely forgotten parking elsewhere, the panic was well and truly setting in. Such was my state of confusion that I can’t even remember how I eventually found out that there was always street cleaning on this day each week, for which the roads had to be clear. Greg would later tell me that at the same time every week the tow truck companies all meet up with the street cleaning trucks and then clear the way for them. So now, on a British phone with a British credit card and no car, I was going to have to work out how to fix this. Greg was, at this point, receiving regular updates that it was looking less and less likely that I’d get there. Eventually I was able to locate the company that had my car and get an uber there to find it closed. So I sat in the cold and waited for the person to return and, having paid the fine, now had my car back. But the session was missed and it was getting late. I no longer had an AirBnB and I needed to get driving as I was bound for New Jersey.

Lessons:

• “Don’t take a job for what it is, take it for what it can be”.
• If you’re committed to building something special, be prepared to spend time picking stones out of the pitch.
• Encourage the personalities, let players be themselves and mould the rugby to them. As Greg said on the ‘Rugby Revealed’ podcast: “You’re going into the environment, the environment isn’t going into you”.
• Don’t take your coaching language and jargon for granted, make sure you are speaking in a way that they can understand.
• Share your time and experience with people. Go for a coffee.
• Keep an eye out for street cleaning dates in New Haven.

​Princeton University, New Jersey

The drive down was pretty cool, passing right through the hustle and bustle of New York and back out the other side into countryside. I found my AirBnB and carefully clarified all parking restrictions with the owner. The next day the temperature had picked up a bit and it finally felt like Spring had arrived on the East Coast. I walked into Princeton and explored the town and campus ahead of meeting their Head Coach, Richard Lopacki later in the day. I had had some unfortunate news, he wasn’t able to get permission from the university for me to attend training as he had hoped, so a coffee would have to do. Both Yale and Princeton are older than the country in which they are based and the history and tradition could be felt as I explored the campus. I soon happened upon the stadium which was in the middle of campus and seemed to be open. So in I went, waiting for someone to send me packing, but nobody did and I wondered the stands imagining what they would be like packed to the rafters with inebriated college students on an Autumnal Saturday. Soon I found the Yale basbeball team in the ball pen next door and in pre-season training ready for America’s favourite Summer sport to begin in earnest. So I sat down on the grass verge and watched the session, trying to pick out the coach’s language and doing my best not to judge his session design (about a sport I know nothing about, of course).

​Richard kindly gave me a couple of hours of his time, talking coaching and the rugby landscape in America. He had been coaching at Princeton for a long time and had seen how things were starting to change. It may not have been the training session I’d hoped for, but it was an interesting insight and opportunity to talk about the differences and challenges with coaching in America. It brought a close to my trip as the next day I was returning my car, getting the bus into New York and hurriedly exploring for 24 hours before my flight back to London.

Lessons:

• Resist the urge to judge other coaches, especially when you don’t know the intentions behind their session design and planning!
• Have more coffees with coaches to learn, discuss and aid personal reflection.

​

​Conclusion

​If it isn’t obvious, I still remember the trip so fondly and believe I took so much from it. It was a rare opportunity to see how rugby is growing in a competitive environment with a different sporting culture, and by extension, how plenty of foreign coaches are adapting their practice accordingly. It has strengthened a desire in me to engage with as many coaches as possible in as many environments as possible to share experiences and learn from each other. It is so important to be open, share your knowledge and your time and welcome people in. It means you get to meet new people, build connections and gain an outside perspective on your practice. You may never know how impactful the experience could be for you or for the people you welcome in. For Greg, James, Robbie, Craig, Leonard and Richard they just had some random British guy spend some time with them in their environment for a bit. For me, it was a journey outside my comfort zone, taking on unexpected challenges, meeting new people, learning loads about rugby and life, challenging my ideas and building connections. It wasn’t just the rugby, it was the Lobster Grilled Cheese in New Haven, wondering the Princeton campus, the lights of Las Vegas. The learning and life experience was richer because of the new surroundings and reliance on myself to solve problems. As I drove down the Garden State Parkway through New York I felt inspired to be more ambitious and have confidence in what I was doing. After all, I had managed to get that damn car back from the impound.

Linked below is a piece of work completed for my MSc in Performance Coaching. It is focused on "The formation, development and application of Coaching Philosophies". Feel free to contact me to discuss further, provide feedback or chat about how it does/doesn't match with your experiences.

“Ruckgate”, Italy’s non-breakdown tactic in the match against England yesterday, was more than just exploiting the Chiefs tactical innovation. It was Conor O’Shea’s chance to build and shape a new mentality for Italy rugby. Two weeks ago, they shipped over sixty points against a rampant Ireland side, in Italy. The fortnight that followed criticised Italy’s lack of competitiveness and led to calls for Georgia to replace them in the 6 Nations. Meanwhile, O’Shea and Venter worked quietly to build up their players.

It can’t be easy to lift players from such a convincing home loss and there are many tactics coaches can use. But Italy fully embracing the ‘no-ruck’ defensive strategy, to an extent never seen before, was the perfect way to do it. The life of a professional rugby player can sometimes be mundane, albeit focused and competitive. Preparing for the England game would have been FUN. Almost like the Italy squad was on a secret mission that nobody else knew about. They would come to Twickenham and ambush England with tactical innovation rather than just ‘line speed’ or ‘passion’ alone. The critics will say that, ultimately, it didn’t do any good – Italy still conceded six tries. But from an Italy perspective, it will have been crucial. For the first half they confused and humiliated one of the best sides in world rugby, whilst remaining very competitive until the hour mark. Two weeks on from the Ireland game, they are able to pick out positives and build their confidence back up.

The outrage at the tactic has become the perfect tool for the Italy coaching staff to have a real impact upon the mentality of the Italy squad. O’Shea and Venter came out fighting in the press with strong, positive statements that will be as much for their own players as for the eyes of the rugby world. On twitter, Venter highlights conditioning as the key thing that prevented Italy from winning the game. Make no mistake, this is for his players to read, not least because this is something that is within their control. He went on to highlight that Italy tried to play positive rugby, kicking for the corners. This, again, provides a basis for the identity they want to form. Lastly, he says he is insulted that people have accused them of just trying to keep the score down. They have the means now to build a siege mentality that can be so effective when trying to motivate and elevate players beyond their average. O’Shea has been equally strong in his statements to the media, at least twice finishing the interview “it will take time, but we will get there”. A strong, positive statement focusing minds on the long-term project. O'Shea even hinted in one interview that he expected the backlash - in my view, it was an opportunity to get into his player's heads that he just couldn't miss. The message to the Italy players and public is clear -  they will find ways to be innovative, they will be fun, they will be competitive and most of all, they will be relevant.

A return to Coaching Conversations, this one with Akin Lord who joined Basingstoke Town as an Academy coach in July 2016. Akin is a UEFA B Licensed coach and BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching graduate, completing his undergraduate degree at Leeds Metropolitan University. Akin is currently studying a part-time masters in Athletic Development and Peak Performance at Southampton Solent University. At 24, Akin is an ambitious young coach and has spent the past 3 years working within the highly regarded Coerver Coaching programme. Akin also enjoyed spells working at Chesterfield FC, Farnborough FC and The FA Skills. Akin enjoyed relative success in his playing career, playing for a number of professional and semi-professional football clubs including: Kidderminster Harriers FC, AFC Wimbledon, Staines Town FC, Kingstonians FC, Fulham FC, Wimbledon FC. He also played and coached at Leeds Metropolitan University, where the football programme is ranked 2nd in the British Universities and College Sports standings.


When you transitioned from playing to coaching what was the biggest adjustment you had to make? 
Identifying that the standard of players I am coaching are not the same standard of players I played with. I.e. Certain drills/session ideas I participated in as a player were not appropriate for the players I was coaching. I recognised that I come from a playing performance background where the result meant something. The players I initially coached were playing for fun and participation alongside still learning the game
 
How would you describe your coaching?
Holistic - a multidisciplinary approach
 
What experiences have most contributed to you coaching the way that you do?
Informal - Experiences and reflection, imitation and apprenticeship
Formal - Time bound, facilitated, assessed, institutional
Non - Formal - CPD, Workshops, seminars, clinics, conversations, observation

What areas of your coaching would you prioritise to continue working on and improving in the coming years?
Communication - Had a stutter since childhood
Observation - Would like to continually observe other coaches/leaders from other sports, business etc.
Develop a greater tactical understanding of the game and how to develop situational practices rather than drills to help improve player performance on match day.
 
How did you find your BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching and are there any elements that still impact your day-to-day coaching life?

• Developed a greater understanding of self and academic theory based problem solving
• Developed a greater understanding of coaching pedagogy. Acknowledgement of academic theory and practice of education
• Developed understanding of technical and tactical skills in sport for children and young people
• Developed understanding of coaching process and practice in applied contexts
• Developed understanding of the bio-psycho-social needs of children and young people in sport

The Who, What, How Principle (Abraham et al ., 2009)
Who - ‘Who’ am I coaching? Understanding of learner (Needs and Wants)
What - ‘ What’ am I coaching? Understanding of curriculum (Skill and knowledge of the role)
How - ‘How’ am I coaching? Understanding of learning environment (Activity structure and coaching behaviour)
 
What are your thoughts on the formal coach ed available to coaches within football (FA, UEFA license etc)?
The current FA formal coach education format has been recently reviewed and I believe they have improved for the better. The removal of final assessment and instead the coach educators support coaches within their own environment.
My UEFA B experience highlights that. I saw some very good coaches fail on the day of assessment because they didn’t meet the criteria of the coach educator (Even though the participants were us coaches and we had to participate in 27 other 45 minute assessments). Some coaches choked on assessment day and failed, where I have seen them before on summative assessments and perform extremely well. I missed the assessment due to have a knee operation two weeks before the assessment day however when I recovered from my operation, I received support in my own environment and developed as a coach by getting support how to develop my players at my own club.
Also some coaches on the course coached U14’s,15’s etc and they were expected to coach men, where some may have had no experience in doing so. Whilst completing my UEFA B License, my coach educator videoed my session and watching myself back on DVD was a powerful education tool.

You work within a football Academy and the amount of players who make it to football's professional ranks is notoriously small - how does that impact on your coaching and treatment of players, if at all?
My coaching environment is slightly different as my club is semi-professional, so the players already have a slight realization they’re not going to turn professional.
The first aim for the majority of my players is getting a first team contract (The 1st team are full time). This impacts my coaching and treatment of the players with regular reminders of their behaviours and actions - I.e. Would they do the same thing if they were with the first team?

In 2015 I did a Coaching Conversation with Miguel Rios who commented that "too often football academies are run on fear - the fear of being released". Have you found this to be accurate in your experience and, if so, does it inhibit the learning and development of some players?
My previous experience within a professional academy there was more a “fear” from the parents than the players. This inhibited the learning and development of the players as their focus was elsewhere. Education to the parents is important so this “fear” doesn’t relay to the players and effect training/match day performance

Are there certain elements (coaching or club/environment) that you think are crucial in developing young players? 

• Freedom
• Opportunity
• Flexibility

 
I know some people who have worked within professional football and have heard that as a sport it can be quite resistant to change or new ideas at times - is this something you have found to be true?
Yes, the old notion of “we’ve always done it this way” and coaches/players aren't always receptive to new methods/ideas. However, they need educating as always doing a certain task one way will only produce a certain type of result. Allowing/adapting to a change will allow the scope for different successes/failures.
Football is open to new ideas regarding sports science/performance analysis etc as this field is still growing and developing. However, training methods/periodisation, coaches and players are still resistant to change.

Gallimore, R., Gilbert, W. and Nater, S. (2014). ‘Reflective Practice and Ongoing Learning: A Coach’s 10 - Year Journey’, Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 15(2), pp268-288.

- Reflection mediates between experience and learning (Dewey, 1933). Ponder, review and question experiences so as to adapt and change future behaviour.
- John Wooden put a heavy focus on reflective practice. Coach Bias deliberately sought to change and improve coaching by analysing videos 7 years apart. It showed increased efficiency of coaching behaviour (less talk). Also, more effective teaching as pre-instruction decreased, concurrent instruction increased and post-instruction decreased = more organised and more immediate skill feedback.
- Ermeling (2012) 4 key features of reflective practice in teaching contexts:
1. Identify and define important and recursive instructional problems specific to local context
2. Prepare and implement detailed instructional plans
3. Utilize evidence to drive reflection, analysis and next steps
4. Persistently work towards detectable improvement.
- Teach rather than react.
- Coach Bias' improvements:
1. Fixed length practice, start by explaining objective.
2. Write a plan and stick to it. Plan better and implement changes next day.
3. Transition between drills - no wasted time
4. Transition between drills - equipment ready to go
5. Drills 8min max.
- Coach Bias' changes to his instructional talk:
1. Decrease number of coaching statements, less interruption.
2. Keep corrections to 10 seconds max
3. Be specific in teaching behaviour.
- Implement conditioning into elements of game
- Practice as we play applies to instructional language too - same type of message and tone.
- Measure self by quality of teaching, not results.

Gallimore and Tharp, (2004). 'What a coach can teach a teacher, 1975-2004: Reflections and Reanalysis of John Wooden's teaching practices', The Sport Psychologist, 18, 119-137.

- Wooden's teaching points "short, punctuated, numerous"
- Practice was highly organised, constant activity and high intensity.
- Planning essential to be efficient and concise.
- Praise better when specific and information, and most effect if focus on effort and mastery (Stipek, 1993).
- 4 laws of learning: Exploration, Demonstration, Imitation, Repetition.
- Master fundamentals to allow creativity.

Hodge, K., Henry, G. & Smith, W. (2014). 'A case study of excellence in elite sport: Motivational climate in a world champion team', The Sport Psychologist, 28(1), 60-74.

- In sport, Coach typically regarded as most influential significant other in athlete experience (Bartholomew, Ntoumis and Thogersen-Ntoumanis, 2010; Pensgaard and Roberts, 2002).
- Contextual environment (climate created by coach) influential on athlete motivation and behaviour (Gagne, Ryan and Bargmann 2003).
- Key findings for motivational climate in elite teams:
1. Elite Olympians: importance of coach as creator of MC, and support of Mastery climate (Pensgaard and Roberts, 2002)
2. Elite soccer: Prefer positive feedback and democratice coach behaviour (Hoigaard et al, 2006)
3. High perception of master climate and low performance climate associated with increased perception of task cohesion and collective efficacy (Heuze et al, 2006)
4. Strong master climate associated with greater performance improvement and satisfaction (Balaguer et al, 2002)
5. To decreease player perception of distress, focus on mastery climate for elite athletes (Pensgaard and Roberts, 2002).
- Study with NZ All Blacks generated 8 main themes:
1. CRITICAL TURNING POINT
- Drinking issue, so meeting Captain/VC/Coaches to create leadership group. This increased accountability, more ownership and dual management. Coaches' desire to foster autonomy.
- After 2007 RWC, sought feedback from previous NZ coaches. Looked at reasons for failure in past campaigns and planned strategically to try and combat past errors.
2. FLEXIBLE AND EVOLVING
- Evolving coaching style
- Smith changed approach depending on situation and goal - sometimes tough and directive, others empowering and encouraging. Depends on needs of players, group awareness, time in week/season etc.
3. DUAL-MANAGEMENT STYLE
- Dual-management by players and coches. Players feedback on training intensity and game plan.
- Reminiscent of Autonomy-Supportive Coaching (Lyons, Rynne and Mallett, 2012), Emotionally Intelligent Coaching (Chan and Mallett, 2011) and Transformational Leadership (Callow, Smith, Hardy, Arthur and Hardy, 2009).
4. BETTER PEOPLE MAKE BETTER ALL BLACKS
- "What you do shouts so loudly that I can't hear what you're saying"
- Link to on and off the field decision-making so all influenced selection.
5. RESPONSIBILITY
- Empowering he players, ownership and accountability.
- To problem solve on the pitch, do it off the pitch = Analyse self/opposition, present to squad
6. LEADERSHIP
- reflects Transformational Leadership
- Leadership Group / On Field LEadership / Season Planning
7. EXPECTATION OF EXCELLENCE
8. TEAM COHESION : COACHES AND PLAYERS
- Horizontal coaching structure: give other coaches ownership too
- Alignment and clarity
- "Keep it fresh", coaches swap roles and mix up training etc
- Enjoyment and fun
- Love.
AUTONOMY SUPPORTIVE MOTIVATIONAL CLIMATE (Mageau and Vallerand, 2003)
- athlete presented with choice and rationale for tasks, feelings acknowledged, opportunities to show initiative and independent work.
- Empowering, noncontrolling competence feedback (increase strengths, not just decrease weaknesses)
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP (Bass and Riggio, 2006)
- Build relationship with players based on personal, emotional and inspirational exchanges with goal to develop player to their fullest
- Arthur et al (2012) transformational leadership model in elite sport:
1. Inspirational VIsion
2. Support to achieve it
3. Provide Challenge to achieve it
Also: Individual consideration; inspirational motivation; intellectual stimulation; foster acceptance of group goals; high performance expectations; appropriate role modelling
- Emotional Intellgence and Character Building.

Rugby Coach's Corner Podcast - interview with Richard Cheetham
- Over a season, potentially 126 warm-ups which provide chances to learn. Be creative, don't miss opportunities. Set the tone.
- Compares it to a Bond film = first 3 mins end one story and start the next, loads of adventure to hook you right away - get active quickly!
- Session must be purposeful with designed outcomes
- People are a product of their environment. Discover, Develop, Consolidate. Enable players to be fearless.

Perception-Action Podcast 21D - interview with Noel Rousseau
- Explicit intervention leads to cognitive loading and change of attention so many golfers will reach overload. Circumvent that by not giving them time to think.
- What makes an intervention work? Could be temporal eg. Time golfers can stand over the ball before swing.
- Common thinking was 'don't think about technique under pressure' and many golf psychologists saying the same. Research by Noel found different, some people react favourably and some worse.
- Recent experiments on the individual to measure Working Memory Capacity and their propensity to be visually or virtually oriented. People with increased WMC better with coaching intervention. Key is understanding individual difference.
- No one right way but important to be aware of trends
- Load minds as little as possible, be explicit only when need to be.
- ANALOGIES = provides lots of info that they are already aware of to help understand what is expected from them in a movement.
- Look to rhythmic and whole movement cues - bigger movements and less detail.
- Consider the Key Movement Effector : what will make the biggest difference?

Perception-Action Podcast 27C - Effects of Mental Fatigue on Attention and Decision-Making
- Perceptual and attentional demans are mentally demanding. The need to constantly stay focused, shift gaze and detect subtle changes in opposition movement leads to fatigue.
- Physical and Mental fatigue. Interesting part of research found gaze behaviour didnt change during game, so why did performance decrease later on? 1. Limited supply of mental energy, therefore still focused but less effective? or 2. Motivation decreases and attention is drawn elsewhere.

Freakonomics Podcast - What are gender barriers made of?
- Megan Sumner: perception of listener depends on how and what is said ie. class, geography, gender. Gendered listening starts by age 4.
- Iris Bonet: Interviews are generally useless and do a bad job of predicting future performance. Some useful information, but tough to sift through and separate valuable from less valuable. There is a need to change how we listen - eg. Women penalised for being assertive, men are rewarded.
Need to redesign how we hire and assess people. Try to measure which questions do a good job of predicting future performance and use them in same order with all candidates. Ensure that looking at results you are blind to the candidate and demographic.
Do away with Self-Evaluation: if people differ in self-confidence then different self-appraisal, influencing how a manager appraises them and their colleagues. Consistent gaps between men, women, cultures etc in how they self-evaluate.
- Devise solutions that factor in your biases. Don't rely on people making good decisions, design a system so success isn't relying on every decision being good so that it is crippled by everything that could go wrong.

Hidden Brain Podcast - Google at Work
- How do you find talent that isn't looking to be found?
- Google looks for 'Emergent Leadership' - when individuals see a problem they step in to make it better.
- Project Aristotle studied what makes teams effective. Underlying factor was found to be PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY. Those who normally stand back feel ok to come forward. Teams with higher PS outperform teams with lower PS. Higher PS also found to benefit greatly from diversity.

Rugby Coach's Corner Podcast 22 - interview with Graeme Moffat
- Find the right balance and start with the end result first. So reverse the process of scoring a try - 1v1 skills and scoring, trace back to line breaks and scoring from them, back to phase play and set pieces etc.

Rugby Coach's Corner Podcast 16 - interview with Dave Walder
- "Don't be afraid of silence"

What Steve Hansen can teach leaders about empathy, on McAlpine Coaching
- Empathy is more than to sympathize, it allows people to use their knowledge to improve their companies in subtle but important ways.
- How to cultivate empathy?
1. Listen deepy and actively
2. Be curious
3. Be vulnerable
4. Work on your self-awareness
5. Put yourself in other people's shoes

Why do you make stupid decisions.... on TheConversation
- One reason for making stupid decisions is our inbuilt cognitive biases = we make quick decisions then seek to prove ourselves right.
- Humans tend to avoid Cognitive Dissonances = if a fact doesn't fit our beliefs, we seek to change the fact rather than our belief.
- A further reason to ignore experts us to avoid social discomfort, it is easier to rely on the judgments of our peers instead.

Leadership lessons from the All Blacks, on i-l-m
1. Build a "We" culture
2. Empower your teams. Individual responsibility. Create a self-managing, self-improving environment.
3. Create an environment where individuals learn to make great decisions.
4. Make it fun.
5. Get the mindset right.

Captaincy: Why authenticity matters, on espncricinfo
- Many different approaches to leadership. "Only prerequisite is a degree of authenticity. So long as the captain is being himself, he has a fighting chance".

Why cultures beat policies every time, on growingleaders
- A new culture creates a new normal
- Culture is shaped by:
1. Action and behaviour of leaders
2. What leaders pay attention to
3. What is rewarded and punished
4. Allocation and attention of resources

Seven tools for thinking....  on learningspy.co.uk
This is a series of 7 blogs commenting on Daniel Dennett's 7 Tools for Thinking.
1. Use your mistakes
- trick to making good mistakes is to not hide them. Savour your mistakes and delight in understanding what led to them.
2. Respect your Opponents (Principle of Charity)
- The Principle of Charity is to assume, until proven otherwise, anyone who disagrees with us is as intelligent, informed and ethical as we are, and we should strive to interpret their claims and evidence in the most positive way possible.
3. The "Surely" Klaxon
- Use of the word "surely" often indicative of weak point in argument.
4. Answer Rhetorical Questions
- Rhetorical questions show willingness to take a short cut. Pursue the line of reasoning, is there an unobvious answer to be considered?
5. Employ Occam's Razor
- "All things being equal, simplest solution is usually the best one"
- "It is pointless to do with more what is done with less"
- Remember it is only a heuristic device and proves nothing
6. Don't Waste Time on Rubbish
- there is plenty of substandard if you look for it. Don't waste time with it, focus on the best stuff you can find and critique that to learn.
- Don't trust sweeping statements. In a complex system, average isn't very useful.
7. Beware of "Deepities"
- Deepity = proposition that seems important, true and profound, but achieves this by being ambiguous.
- Something may sound profound but is it bland to the point of being meaningless? Avoid ambiguity.

Perception-Action Podcast, Episode 18a with Mark Upton
- Interesting area of research is coaches and pressure - mood profiling, sleep, physiology. How coach manages self is increasingly important. The "less is more" of high performance goes against prevailing sporting culture of "more is more". An example might be Olympics, prep starts months out. "Choking" may start then, really early rather than in the event itself.
- Strategies for better managing self = sleep, exercise, hobbies
- Constraints approach and dynamical systems. Players need to self organise under constraints. Manipulate the task, emotional state, physical intensity, environment, social etc.
- Complexity Theory. Complex vs Complicated. Complicated requires blueprint to get it right, Complex involves social interaction and uncertainty (eg. Raising children). It is hard to forecast ahead so stay in the moment and focus on how to manage the complexity. Coaching = grey and uncertain.
- Obliquity = aim for something but discover something else en route. Goals best achieved indirectly.
- Skill Acquisition. Important thing is engagement. Big question is what will engage them, not just the practice design.
- Phil Jackson. Players need to disconnect from coach so they are perceptually attuned to teammates and game. Players have to figure it out alone.
- When addressing a problem, define it and tidy it up. Observe well, have good conversations with many people.
- Put self in the player's position - what are the perceptual demands and common situations they face?

Relearn 3 - Perspective, on Drowning in the Shallows
- Gain insight into athlete's perspective rather than enforcing our own.
- Seeing their perspective, we have better chance of developing buy-in and commitment in a way not reliant on compliance, manipulation and persuasion.

How Thomas Tuchel turned around Borussia Dortmund, on FourFourTwo.
- "The team is the star, not the coach"

Glasgow's Gregor Townsend the leading light.... on the Guardian.
- "good coaches always look at ways to evolve and learn".

Overcoming fear in sport: Creating a mastery environment, on BelievePerform
- Research: highly ego oriented towards sport can have negative consequences with performance anxiety and fear of failure. Task oriented takes greater enjoyment and play for personal satisfaction, learning and developmental purposes.
- Goal orientation influenced by the environment players are subjected to.
- Mastery environment = winning is a bi-product rather than the sole aim.

Game Sense Coaches, by Dan Cottrell on Coach-plus
- Good game sense coaching:
1. Have a structure
2. Clearly define rules
3. Allow time for game to develop
4. Adapt rules to include players
5. Play right length
6. Allow chance to reflect
7. Prevent consequences of sloppy play
8. Return to the game in the future.

It's great to have Coaching Conversations return after a bit of a break, this time meeting Vanessa Keenan. Vanessa is a Synchronised Swimming Coach based in Canada and was last year named on the CoachSeek Top 50 Influential Coaches for 2015. You can find more of her work at her website, The Online Synchro Coach, or her YouTube channel. 

The effect of physical and academic stress on illness and injury in Div 1 College Football players
- weeks of the season categorized into three levels:
1. High physical stress (eg. preseason)
2. High academic stress (eg. weeks scheduled with exams)
3. Low academic stress (eg. regular season, no exams)
- Results:
A) Odds of injury restriction greatest during high physical stress
B) Odds of injury restriction during high academic stress are double that of low academic stress
C) Difference in injury rates in all athletes for high physical stress and high academic stress disappeared if only consider those playing, suggesting high academic stress may have increased effect on playing athletes

Championship coaching starts with relationship building, Dr Wade Gilbert, on ASEP
- Relationships a top priority
- Jill Ellis US Women's Soccer lauded for her open and honest communication style. Emphasis on learning to connect with players in a way meaningful to them
- Steve Kerr of Golden State Warriors: Xs and Os is relatively small part of coaching, 80% is relationships and atmosphere
- Building relationships is an act of courage - the courage to be vulnerable

Hidden Brain Podcast, Episode 22. Originals with Adam Grant, on NPR
- Differece between the great and the ordinary isn't that the great have great ideas, but simply have more.
- Greatest originals are those who failed the most because they tried the most - not that originals have higher hit rates, just more volume with more variety so have a better chance of success
- Many people fall in love with their first idea, which are often the most conventional. You need to weed out the familiar to get to the original. Furthermore, it is hard to judge own findings - need to put our ideas out there for judgement and feedback.
- Fostering creativity = values over rules. High standards.
- Rules = people learn to follow and accept status quo.
- Downside to originality = too much of a good thing and everyone marching in different directions. "Pioneers need settlers".

A coaching system that will help you C the light, on connectedcoaches
- 5 main elements: Connection, Confidence, Competence, Character and caring, creativity
- Jon Woodward = on connections "You have to relate to the person and the sport. If there's no connection there, there will be very little development".
- STEPS framework = Space, Task, Equipment, People, Speed

Let the creative sparks fly, with Richard Cheetham, on connectedcoaches
- Create an environment where it is safe to fail
- Players take ownership and devise/adapt sessions
- 3 stages = Discover, Develop, Consolidate
- Environment where they make mistakes and learn from them encourages them to be robust and resilient
- "Direct instruction equals less coaching"

Formal vs Informal Coach Education, by Mallett et al, 2009
- Ongoing issue about most efficient and effective means of aggregating and accrediting the coach's varied learning experiences.
- Research has shown that coach ed/accred is less valued than experiential learning and other less formal opportunities
- Learning mediated by Knowledgeable Other so learners have less control over what is delivered and learned.
- Debate of F vs In has little value as coaches need access to varying educational opportunities
- Growing evidence that coaches "feel" more learning taking place in informal situations

Formal, Nonformal and Informal Coach Learning: A Holistic Conceptualization, by Nelson et al, 2006
- Formalised learning episodes were found to be relatively low impact endeavours when compared to informal, self-directed modes of learning

Sources, topics and use of knowledge by coaches, by Stoszkowski and Collins, 2015
- Results revealed coaches preferred coaching knowledge from informal learning activities, especially with social interaction.

Emotional intelligence integral to becoming a great coach, on connectedcoaches
- Emotions drive thoughts, thoughts drive behaviour, behaviour drives performance
- The more you know your player, the better you can coach them.
- Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand and control emotions to be able to perform to absolute potential (Catherine Baker)
- A key term in Emotional Intelligence is Self-Awareness.
- Top tips:
1. Understand your EI make up
2. Work on behavioural agility
3. Reflect!
4. Practice adapting behaviour to the person you are coaching.