Coach Your Brains Out

• 1:11 - Exciting news for Kasey.
• 1:56 - Trying to keep ecological dynamics as a part of Kasey’s coaching style.
  • Guiding set of principles
• 3:45 - Introduction to visual occlusion.
  • Anticipating faster
• 7:51 - Explaining Gaze behavior and how visual occlusion is used to help develop it. 
  • Active v. passive gaze
  • Intercepting objects
• 10:08 - Why should athletes take time away from studying and visualizing patterns of movements?
• 11:32 - Finding better information by occluding everything else besides a specific habit or skill.
  • Can also occlude one specific thing, and leave the rest available to be focused on.
• 12:47 - In the scope of baseball, how can coaches implement occlusion training to develop faster reactions.
• 14:56 - Explaining the infrared beam, and how Andy uses it.
• 16:14 - Implementing occlusion training with a low budget.
  • Techniques that Kasey has found to be effective.
  • Strobe goggles..
• 22:04 - John’s application of the strobe goggles in practicing serve receive and defense.
  • Kasey’s clarification for the listeners.
• 28:16 - Specifying the benefit of using occlusion training to give athletes up to date information

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• 1:58 - Convincing younger athletes to be open to taking the longer, but more self-fulfilling route of discovery Lauren described in the last episode.
• 4:43 - Why is impostor syndrome so common in even successful athletes?
  • Explaining it in the context of athletics
  • Possibly American athletic culture contributing to it?
• 7:32 - What does Lauren mean by “examining the value of your work” and why is it important for athletes?
  • Performance = connection and ease
• 10:24 - How coaches can effectively guide a player who struggles with bringing their success in practice to real competition.
• 13:45 - Lauren’s guide to opening questions for athletes - finding the best way to communicate.
• 16:49 - Rephrasing “anxiety”.
• 18:15 - Techniques coaches can use to help improve their players’ mental game.
• 22:34 - Lauren’s one biggest takeaway from her career that she would want to tell herself in the past.

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• 1:20 - A little bit about Lauren’s swimming career.
• 2:53 - Lauren’s breakthrough moment, and how she transitioned to help athletes with their mental game.
• 4:12 - Describing the first conversation/meeting with an athlete.
  • Getting athletes to open up
• 5:48 - What aspects do athletes tend to need the most help with?
• 7:10 - Where does confidence come from, and how does Lauren instill that within other athletes?
• 8:53 - How Lauren helps athletes find their identity and also maintain it steadily throughout competition.
• 11:53 - Do both world-class and amateur athletes struggle from the same mental challenges?
• 16:46 - How athletes can build resiliency, and how coaches can assist them.
• 20:39 - Dealing with feelings that a medal was not deserving of your performance.
• 24:04 - How athletes can recover and decompress.
• 26:43 - Handling the changing context or importance of pressure moments in competition.

Read Billy's new book! The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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1:26 - Diving into Jon’s idea of WIPs (weekly improvement plans) that were introduced in Episode 1.

Are they always 1-on-1 or are they group meetings?

6:08 - Whiteboard where Jon’s players write their two mechanical or technical skills as well as their mental skill.

8:23 - Example of an effective practice focus suggested by players compared to one that is less coachable.

10:24 - Particular stats that Jon prioritizes in meetings.

12:56 - Spending time with starters vs. spending time with non-starters.

15:26 - Diving into Jon’s three tenets - particularly his belief in striving to be “1% better”.

Always working hard towards bettering yourself

What kind of qualities are needed to be a part of the program?

18:07 - Explaining Jon’s second tenet: “be a scientist”.

What does it mean for an athlete to be a scientist?

19:24 - Example of how an athlete can be a scientist

20:28 - Coaching like a scientist.

21:34 - How does Jon want his players to approach his third tenet: “challenge the status quo”.

23:25 - What do Jon and his players do differently from other programs that are outside of the status quo?

25:20 - What does Jon’s staff do that challenges the status quo?

26:35 - What Jon has done to create an environment where his staff feels comfortable to challenge him.

27:51 - What Jon has done to be a more “open” coach.

Keeping authority while also maintaining a certain level of humility

Being straightforward with athletes

29:12 - Explaining the “illegal moves”.

33:48 - A little bit about Billy’s book (the link to buy it is below!)

Listener Questions

34:31 - How Jon took everything he has learned from his mentors and created his own style of coaching

37:44 - What has been the biggest change in Jon’s relationship with his players since becoming the head coach of the program?

Read Billy's new book! The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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Newman (episode 1)

• 1:26 - A little bit about John’s experience in the last 3 years as the 10th head coach of the women’s volleyball program at The University of New Mexico.
  • Originally an assistant coach - transitioned into a bigger role
  • Transitioning from specializing in a certain skill area to having a role in every aspect
• 3:24 - Important takeaways from the recent season where UNM had a record of 20-10.
• 4:55 - Will the beach volleyball program be reinstituted?
• 6:10 - Improving individual skills while also maintaining a clear direction for the entire team.
• 7:50 - Trade-offs of focusing mostly on individual development.
  • Difficulty maintaining the team-centric mentality
• 8:49 - Benefits of focusing on individual development.
• 9:54 - What kind of balance has Jon developed between team focused development and individual development?
• 11:47 - Drawbacks of focusing on only developing one aspect.
• 13:38 - Looking at individual development holistically rather than just technically.
• 16:11 - What goes into the planning of team focused practices?
• 18:49 - Adjusting to physical and technical variation of athletes when planning the IDP.
• 22:44 - How does the assistant coaching staff operate during practices?
• 25:10 - How are IDPs created and what role does the coaching staff play in their creation?

Read Billy's new book! The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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• 1:28 - Andy’s primary focus of study, and what he has his PhD in.
  • What he does for the Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Motor Learning + Sports Psychology
• 2:45 - What is part vs. whole practice?
  • Interconnected technique and skills
  • Breaking down the parts of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony
  • Connecting sports and musical analogies
• 7:06 - If you mess up the first part, can you continue with the rest of the parts?
• 8:20 - How to emphasize certain skill areas without making whole practice too overwhelming for the athlete.
• 12:20 - Will part practice actually help you improve, or does it have a placebo effect on the athlete?
  • Ineffective simulations for volleyball drills in young ages
• 17:18 - How to implement whole practice into our warmups.
• 21:01 - Are the different parts of motor learning connected, and if they are, how are they connected?
  • Some gray areas in between
  • Some aspects to take from each part
  • From an academic standpoint, it’s hard to mix
  • Trial and erroring + measuring the effects in practices to find the best approach
• 29:03 - Summary of the topics discussed.

Read Billy's new book! The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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Support the show through Patreon. 

• 1:30 - When asking athletes open-ended questions meant to stimulate their own thought, how important is it to leave them time/space to answer it?
• 2:34 - Guidelines for what kind of questions to ask.
• 4:33 - Effectively phrasing your questions.
• 5:30 - What can and should coaches do with the feedback from their questions.
• 7:04 - Examples of reflective listening.
• 8:42 - Working in listening techniques into daily conversation.
• 12:25 - Why is punishment not effective in the long term?
• 17:29 - When to keep pressing athletes and when to stop.
• 18:58 - How to approach following up with athletes after motivational interviewing.
• 22:44 - Explaining strength lenses.
• 25:12 - Is there a way to efficiently implement motivational interviewing without distracting from reps in practice?

Dr. Fader's Book

We're excited for you to read Billy's new book for athletes and coaches! Get the Inner Knight on Amazon

Contact Billy to order copies for your team

• 2:50 - Introducing Dr. Fader and the topics of this episode.
• 3:46 - Becoming a better listener.
• 4:22 - What Dr. Fader hopes to accomplish with his book.
• 5:38 - Why many already existing programs are ineffective with helping people struggling with addiction.
• 6:10 - How to actively engage with people with feelings of ambivalence.
• 6:40 - Making trust and communication a skill that is actively taught to athletes.
• 10:04 - What kind of athlete would motivational interviewing be the most effective with?
• 12:49 - Affirmation in moderation (treating it like salt).
• 13:32 - Putting heart rate monitors on coaches and having them be mic’ed up.
• 14:26 - Explaining the concept of the writing reflex.
• 15:30 - Natural inclination to look for what is wrong or not working.
• 17:22 - When and when not to correct mistakes.
• 18:40 - Example of an “ask offer ask”.
• 21:25 - Making an effective transition to becoming a more guiding and listening coach.
• 24:09 - Always having a purpose when presenting.
• 26:40 - Making sure it’s about the athlete - using “You” as opposed to “I”.

Dr. Fader's Book

We're excited for you to read Billy's new book for athletes and coaches! Get the Inner Knight on Amazon

Contact Billy to order copies for your team

Filled with lessons on practice, competition, and mindset, The Inner Knight is a powerful tale for athletes, coaches, and anyone who wants to achieve greatness.

Meridian Kay dreams of becoming a champion knight. But when her one passion in life is threatened, she flees home to prove herself in England’s Tournament of Champions. Alone in a foreign land, Meridian meets the one teacher who can help her achieve the impossible.

“The Inner Knight is the best thing on learning I've ever read.” –Tom Black

“The Inner Knight is the most entertaining way to learn the mental skills it takes to be the best version of yourself. Athletes, coaches and learners will love this book!” –John Mayer

“The Inner Knight is everything a modern-day high performance manual should be, disguised as a charming medieval story about knightship, mentorship, and pursuing one’s passion at all cost. If you want to learn how to consistently perform at or near your best when your best is needed, this story’s for you!” –Bernie Holliday

Get it on Amazon

Contact Billy to order copies for your team

1:22 - Why Jamie prioritizes out of system attacking and how he uses storytelling to improve it. 

3:34 - Common problems that teams face when out of system.

5:26 - Changing the mindset to be more explosive and aggressive attacking out of system.

6:48 - Prioritizing hand sets by having all back row players being able to set out of system.

8:12 - How Jamie teaches the “slow to fast” footwork using stories.

10:37 - Has Jamie’s stories stuck during the competition?

12:16 - What elements of out of system play does Jamie focus on during practice?

15:22 - Why and how Jamie implements tape into his practices.

17:30 - Explaining the “ball is a clock” story and how it can help develop out of system attacking.

19:23 - Using bands to improve arm swings.

22:20 - How to prevent athletes from reverting back to their old technique.

27:21 - Preparing athletes for their futures.

Read Billy's new book! The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion