Andrew Gill is a Basketball coach with a stellar career. This includes being International Head coach for Basketball Ireland over an 8 year period. He has also coached at the highest level within the British Basketball League. He has excelled on both sides of education, obtaining an MSc in Sport Development & Coaching, whilst also delivering his knowledge through being a coach tutor for both Basketball England & Basketball Ireland. Today is the first episode of a multipart series on skill acquisition examining research and detailing how it leads into real life application. This episode topics on the following topics:

-The definition of a coach and what they do?

-Motivation Mastery and the Self-determination theory

-Teaching versus learning 

-Testing over teaching

Conor is a MSc graduate in Coaching Science with an Undergrad in Strength & Conditioning. He currently runs his own business in Budapest. In this episode we chat about one of the most researched supplements out there in Creatine. We touch on the following topics.

-What is creatine?

-Its benefits for performance

-Its effect on lean body mass (special populations and sarcopenia)

-Combat sports (Tony Ricci's Loading Model)

-How it effects weight cuts and rehydration post cut

-Promising research on concussion/mild traumatic brain injury

Mary is a performance nutritionist with an undergrad in Sport Science, and recently performed a research masters examining varying nutritional recovery strategies on field sport athletes. In this episode we discuss that research, we go into:

-The rationale behind preforming the study

-The methodology (subjects, measurements taken, prescription)

-The results found and it’s practical implications

Karl Kilbride is a basketball coach with extensive experience within the highest level of his sport. His stellar coaching career includes being the Head Coach of three international Irish teams, as well as an assistant coach in three more separate international programmes. In conjunction to this, he has been the head coach of the WSL team Killester.

In this podcast we have a chat about the following topics:

-A head coaches point of view into the importance of an S&C

-What he wants to see from his S&C in relation to:

-How they plan, use data, testing reports, on game day and in a tournament set up

-The pressure that comes with being a head coach

-How to create a positive culture

Orlaith Is an exercise specialist with a BSc in strength and conditioning from LIT. She works at Medfit Proactive Healthcare, a medical exercise facility in Dublin. In this episode we discuss the following:

- The importance of strength training for elderly

- The topic of fall prevention

- The implementation of a strength training programme

- The keys that arise when attempting to implement a programme

Pat Curran is a multiple time Irish national bodybuilding champion and competitive powerlifter. He holds a BSc in strength and conditioning and runs Kaizen Strength coaching; which specializes in strength and physique development.

Noel is a strength coach and with an undergrad in S&C. He currently resides in Calgary, and has recently written a paper critiquing the Canadian LTAD model.

Today we discuss this paper and touch on the following topics:

-The flaws with how they distinguish the areas of trainability

-The vast difference in the amount research for males vs females

-The discrepancy’s in the research for strength/power training and PHV

If you train youth sport athletes, this is a must listen!

Declan is a MSc graduate in Sports Medicine from Bath University, with an undergrad in Physiotherapy from the University of Ulster. In this episode we discuss his journey from college to the NHS and finally to his own private practice “Pendulum Physiotherapy”. During our chat we touch on the following topics:

-The importance of early classification of injury

-The role of a physio within a performance set up

-The current set up at Pendulum Physio

Conor is a MSc graduate in Coaching Science with an Undergrad in Strength & Conditioning. He currently runs his own business in Budapest. Today we look into the controversial topic of weight cutting. We discuss the following aspects:

-Why athletes perform weight cuts

-The different methods utilized

-The typical amount of weigh cut in the lead up to an event

-Performance decrements that may occur

-Considerations for coaches involved with an athlete cutting weight