In the fourth Slice of PIE of 2024, we get the pleasure of speaking to Dr. Will McConn Palfreyman, Head of Psychology at Scottish Golf, and lecturer in Sport Psychology at the University of Sterling. A chartered sport & exercise psychologist through the British Psychological Society – Will has worked with a number of sporting organisations including sportscotland Institute of Sport, Scottish Golf, Scottish Cycling, the Scottish Rugby Union, Racing Welfare, the National Trainers Federation, the Arsenal F.C. Psychology Network and the Scottish Women’s National Volleyball team. 

Will is such an affable and engaging guy – someone I’ve always gravitated to at conferences and enjoyed speaking to. I was really looking forward to this conversation, and it didn’t disappoint – as we traversed the topics of learning and mastery, coaching, and golf’s “psychological fingerprint.”

You can follow Will here:

Social networks:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-will-mcconn-palfreyman-18a54433/?originalSubdomain=uk 

Twitter/X: https://x.com/WillMcConn 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drwillmcconn/ 

 
Article in The Psychologist 

https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/five-inch-course 

Documentaries:

Hoop Dreams (film): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tciknLFw8GE 

Jerome Betis, A Football Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lODsFL8BJHs 

Referenced papers:

Lubker et al. (2008). https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/sphhs_exer_facpubs/240/ 

Woolway, Chris Harwood (2020): https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Consultant_characteristics_in_sport_psychology_service_provision_a_critical_review_and_future_research_directions/13233998?file=25491536 

In the third Slice of PIE of 2024, we get the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Duncan Simpson.

Duncan joined IMG from Barry University in Miami in 2017 - providing mental conditioning services for tennis, golf, and soccer. Originally from England, he received his Ph.D in Sport Psychology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He’s a Certified Consultant with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and has been conducting mental skills training with athletes and coaches since 2005 - from a range of sports and varying in talent and ability from beginners to professional and Olympic athletes.

Most recently, Duncan along with co-host Dr. Greg Young have originated the Performers podcast, dissecting the autobiographical accounts of famous athletes, coaches practitioners and performers – including Dan Carter, Andre Agassi and most recently, Bubba Watson. As of this recording Duncan and Greg have produced 18 fantastic episodes, decoding the tips and tricks of high level performers – using their knowledge of sport psychology theory and practice to connect the dots. The link to the podcast is below, and I would highly recommend listening to it.

In this conversation with Duncan we talk about the podcast, as well as his experience leading a team of mental performance consultants at the IMG Academy, a private school based in Florida, as well as his insights and observations of what makes a psychologically informed environment – along with a few good book recommendation (again linked below). 

You can follow Duncan here:

Social networks:
https://x.com/sportpsychdunc?lang=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncan-simpson-ph-d-cmpc-76244b1a
 

The Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/@PerformersPod?app=desktop

Listen to it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/56cK91sh2F1FzXXmbx1ECt?si=bba76a5f19584b10 

 
A life without limits - Chrissie Wellington
https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-life-without-limits/chrissie-wellington/9781780338712 

In the second Slice of PIE of 2024, we get the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Martin Turner.

Martin is a very experienced academic, researcher and practitioner – with specific interests in challenge and threat states in athletes, and the use of REBT with athletes.

On the applied side Martin has worked across football, cricket, rugby, cycling, archery, shooting, and equestrian. He also provides performance psychology to business professionals. He’s the Lead Sport Psychologist for England Futsal and his work with athletes has included seasons at Nottingham Forest FC Academy, Nottingham County Cricket Club Academy, Staffordshire County Cricket Club Academy, and Stoke City Football Academy.
 
We talk about one of his latest papers on the use of REBT with sales professionals (link below) and broaden the conversation into wider REBT tenets.

You can follow Martin here:

Social networks:
https://twitter.com/DrMJTurner
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-martin-turner-828b766b/

The Books:
1) The Rational Practitioner (2022, the one with the Dragon) https://www.routledge.com/The-Rational-Practitioner-The-Sport-and-Performance-Psychologists-Guide-To-Practicing-Rational-Emotive-Behaviour-Therapy/Turner/p/book/9781032060408

2) REBT in Sport & Exercise (2020) https://www.waterstones.com/book/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-in-sport-and-exercise/martin-turner/richard-bennett/9780367407803


The REBT & Sales paper:
When not making your sales target is "the end of the world" - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smi.3391

Another year, and another Slice of PIE first.

We  get to speak to Niels Feddersen, Associate Professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Science - and we get to speak to him at two points in time ! First in 2020, during his move from Denmark to Norway, and then again in 2023 - where we have a conversation and reflection on the first conversation ! I can't take credit, it was Niels' idea...
 
We talk about some of his important research studying sporting organisations and their cultures, and slingshot into multiple interesting threads concerning values, societal changes, the tipping point for speaking up, social bubbles and organisational consensus on what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour - among many other topics.

You can follow Niels here:

Social networks:
https://twitter.com/niels_moving
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielsfeddersen/?originalSubdomain=no

Norweigan School of Sport Sciences:
https://www.nih.no/english/about/employees/nielsbf/

Email address:
[email protected]

For all of those interested in the topic of organisational life in sports organisations, see below.

These are the papers underpinning our conversations, but more to come!

Large scale culture changes
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2020.1771306

Power in organisations
https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2020-0119

Destructive/Toxic Cultures
https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2021-0077
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2019.1680639

Slice of PIE is back with some exciting personal and professional news.

We also get to speak to Dr. Jamie Barker, former chair of the British Psychological Society's (BPS) Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology (DSEP) and 'Pracademic' with over 20 years of experience.

In this episode we dig into his experience working with the British Paralympics team in Rio, and from working in sport to business to the military and many other performance environments.

Jamie is also the author of multiple books including The Psychology of Soccer: More Than Just a Game - which came out in 2020, in partnership with Joe Dixon, Richard Thelwell and Ian Mitchell (see link below).

Jamie is also one of the nicest blokes around, and kindly gave enough time to fill two episodes’ worth of insight and experience. This is 'part two' of our conversation.

You can follow Jamie here:

Social networks:
https://twitter.com/DrJamieBarker
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jamie-barker-1154a12b/

Loughborough University Profile:
https://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ssehs/staff/jamie-barker/

Link to work with the RAF:
https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/national-rehabilitation-centre/news/developing-veterans-resilience/ 

The Psychology of Soccer: More Than Just a Game
https://www.routledge.com/The-Psychology-of-Soccer/Dixon-Barker-Thelwell-Mitchell/p/book/9780367350284

Upcoming book:  The Psychology of Golf Performance Under Pressure
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7093506674430197760?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7093506674430197760%29

It's Part Two time ! A chance to return to our conversation with Elliott Newell, former Pathway Scientist at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) and now Senior Athlete Support Advisor at UK Sport.

You can hear the first part of our conversation here: https://www.sliceofpiepodcast.com/987202/5419588-sport-psychology-on-the-road-elliott-newell-part-one

You can find Elliott here:

Elliott's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ElliottSportPsy

EIS - Performance Pathway Learning Hub:
https://pphub.eis2win.co.uk/landing

Resources mentioned in the podcast:

Gouttebarge et al (2019) meta analysis on elite athlete mental health:
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/53/11/700

Counselling Skills Handbook for the Sport Psychologist:
https://shop.bps.org.uk/counselling-skills-handbook-for-the-sport-psychologist

Slice of PIE has been shortlisted in the 'Wellbeing and Performance' category in the 2022 Sports Podcast Awards. You can help by voting for Slice of PIE here:
https://www.sportspodcastawards.com/categories/11

In this episode we speak to Jack Apperley,  a London based choral conductor.  Jack studied at the University of Birmingham where he was mentored by Simon Halsey CBE, and then went on to train at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Patrick Russill (Patrick Russill founded the Royal Academy of Music’s Choral Conducting department in 1997).

He is now the conductor of University Upper Voices at the University of Birmingham and Music Director of the Imperial College Chamber Choir. He is the Music Director of Concordia Voices and also directs workplace choirs for the Royal College of Physicians, Silicon Valley Bank and the Workplace Choir Company. He is the Interim Musical Director of Goldsmith’s Choral Union.

In the conversation we discuss his journey into music, the factors that make a motivated and happy choir, as well as the similarities between conducting and goalkeeping !

You can contact, or keep up to date with Jack in the following places:

Website:
https://jackapperley.com/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/jdeapperley

Join me for the second in a two-parter we recorded last year - a conversation about Social Identity.  In fact, with the Euros in full swing, this is a great time to revisit the first part (here) as well as Gareth Southgate's recent interview on the High Performance Podcast (here).

Dr. Matt Slater from Staffordshire University and Chris Hartley from the University of Stirling spend a lot of time thinking about groups, identity and leadership.

Dr. Matt Slater is Associate Professor of Sport & Exercise Psychology at Staffordshire University, a chartered Psychologist and an active researcher with interests in the psychology of leadership and team functioning in performance contexts. He is also the Author of the book ‘Togetherness: How to Build a Winning Team’, published in 2019.

Chris Hartley is also a chartered and HCPC registered practitioner in sport and exercise psychology, and a Lecturer in sport psychology at the University of Stirling (Scotland, UK). His PHD research adopted a social identity theory perspective, where he aimed to understand how a social identity and the self-categorisation process underpins the provision and receipt of social support. Chris has also previously worked in performance academies, University Scholarship programmes, and consulted with several sport NGBs and a range of individual clients. He’s helped organise the 2nd International Conference on Social Identity in Sport (ICSIS) which took place in June 2019 in Stirling.

Matt and Chris join me for the SECOND part of the first ever group discussion on Slice of PIE - and we talk about identity, leadership, the transience of groups and the powerful wellness impacts of social groups amongst many other topics.

This is Part 2 of the discussion so make sure to check out Part 1 when you can.

You can find more about Matt and Chris here:

Dr Matt Slater
https://twitter.com/DrMattSlater
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matthew_Slater3

Matt's book:
https://www.bennionkearny.com/book/togetherness-how-to-build-a-winning-team-book-ebook-matt-slater/

Chris Hartley
https://twitter.com/DrChrisHartley
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hartley-4981aa102/

The New Psychology of Sport & Exercise:
https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/the-new-psychology-of-sport-and-exercise/book265588#contents

In this episode we speak to someone who has worked, and is currently working in professional football and rugby. Joe Dixon is a fellow graduate of the MSc Sport & Exercise Psychology Masters as Staffordshire University and now performance psychologist at Stoke City Football Club and Bath Rugby. Joe had a career in Occupational Psychology before he pivoted into sport, working in HR and as a consultant. This took him as far away as Western Australia and the buzzing industries circulating around natural resources. As we’ll hear in the interview, the call came one day to pack up the Australian life and move back to the UK to enter the world of professional football....

Sign up for Joe's upcoming webinar:
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/580921885799891214

Joe's website:
josephdixonpsychology.com

Contact Joe:
[email protected]

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DrJosephDixon

Check out the Psychology of Soccer:
https://www.routledge.com/The-Psychology-of-Soccer/Dixon-Barker-Thelwell-Mitchell/p/book/9780367350284

I am joined in this episode by chartered Sport Psychologist Jo Davies. Jo runs a sport psychology consultancy, based out of Reigate in Surrey, and is the sport psychology lead at The Army Elite Athlete Performance Centre, working with the Army Target Shooting and Army Boxing Teams. She is also a sport psychologist for TASS (the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme) and previously worked with the academy athletes at Surrey County cricket. She also supports several scholars at British Universities and is a guest lecturer at undergraduate and masters level sport psychology programs. How does she fit it all in…!?

In our conversation we talk about Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) and its applications in Sport - in particular the role of values, and how clarity over these can be beneficial for both individuals and teams.

You can find Jo here:

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/jdpsychology?lang=en

Website:
http://www.jdpsychology.co.uk/