Today on the show , I'm winding the clock back to May 2020 when I sat down with my good friend Samuel McKenzie. 

In 2019, Sam completed his Master's degree at AUT University focusing on 1st XV rugby players' perceptions of their coaching environment. Sam's research findings have had a huge impact on the way I think about environments for developing skilled, creative and resilient athletes and so, heading into the winter season, I thought I'd share our conversation again.

Sam now works as a coach developer in the talent pathway for the AFL. We pick the conversation up hearing Sam talk about how experiencing some of the darker side of sport drives the work that he loves today.

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Host Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show

This week's conversation is with Zane Winslade.

Zane is the owner of Flow Sport Mental Performance Coaching, and works with athletes from youth to the elite level across multiple codes. Zane has a a Bachelor’s degree in Sports and Leisure Studies, a Graduate Diploma in Teaching and a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology from John F Kennedy University.

On the show today , Zane shares how he works with young people to help them manage their mind and perform as their best self. We also discuss the 3 key principles Zane founded his Mental Toughness Journal for young athletes on.

We start the episode talking about how Zane approaches his own mental game at Brazilian Jujitsu. 

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show

Head of coaching at Birkenhead United FC in Auckland, New Zealand and Co-founder of Player Development Project, Dave Wright (@davewright07), rejoins me for another episode of The Curious Mind.

How much is too much? In this conversation, we dig into training load. We discuss what load is, where it comes from, how it changes across developmental stages, the danger of doing too much, and how to start thinking about managing it.

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show

Living a life in balance is about finding flow. It's about capitalising on all of the things that make you a better person without one of them taking over the flow.

My guest on today's show is Reed Maltbie, and he's a master at helping athletes find flow.

With a Master’s degree in sports psychology and early childhood development and 30 years of professional coaching experience, Reed has dedicated his life to creating the very best environments for athletes of all ages to achieve peak performance, on and off the sports field.

Reed has worked with a variety of sports organisations including the Gaelic Games Association, England Sevens, Soccer Shots, Sport New Zealand, Player Development Project, US Sailing, Soccer Canada, and PGA of Canada.

His latest book, The Spartan Mindset, due out in April 2023, Reed focuses on the impact of language on performance. It is a must-read for anyone who strives to be a more effective and supportive communicator in the classroom, on the sports field, at the office, and beyond.

We begin this conversation talking about the power of emotional fitness and how Reed goes about developing it.

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show

When we value how movement helps us grow, we see invitations to move everywhere we look.

In this conversation, I'm bringing two very special people together to share their efforts to change the movement culture inside primary schools in New Zealand.

The first is Celia Fleck. For the past 3 and a half years, Celia has been working on a joint government initiative between Te Whatu Ora, the Ministry of Education, and Sport NZ called Healthy Active Learning. The goal of the initiative is to improve wellbeing outcomes for tamariki with a strong focus on using physical activity, and healthy food and drink as the vehicles to achieve it. Celia leads the recruitment and professional development of a workforce of over 100 people who are carrying out this mahi. Prior to working in the Sport Sector, Celia was a Secondary Health and PE teacher for 19 years, and a Health and PE Curriculum facilitator for 4 years. She has a Bachelor of Physical Education from Otago University.

Joining Celia on the show today is Daniel Cooke. Dan and I have become very good friends over the past 5 years and he found he way through his PhD in movement skill learning inside a primary school in Auckland. Dan is an A-Licence football coach and has worked with players and coaches across three continents in grassroots and professional settings. He is now working with FIFA as a Talent Coach with a mission to give every talent a chance.

We start the conversation discussing why Celia and Dan are so passionate about movement and children.

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show

There are two types of people in the world - managers, and leaders. Managers work hard to maintain the status quo that their jobs and reputations were built on. They seek comfort in the certainty of the way things have always been done. Leaders, on the other hand, seek change. They imagine a better world, and are driven to create it.

My guest on today's show is, without doubt, a leader. His name is Dr James Vaughan and he is an UEFA A licensed football coach and coach developer. James' work, which challenges old ways of skill development, calls for cultural change on and off the football pitch. Practically speaking, Jame views football as an emergent feature of the sociocultural ecology, with sociocultural constraints influencing playing style and creative development.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Jame shares his journey from getting cut at age 16 from a football centre of excellence in the UK, to moving with his family to the other side of the world, to earning a PhD in Sports Coaching from the University of Queensland, to now, living and coaching in Sweden.

We pick the story up talking about how James thinks about  making important change.

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show

James Leath (@jamesleath) has been coaching student-athletes for over 20 years. He has a master's degree in performance psychology and has worked with companies like IMG Academy, MINDBODY INC, and Under Armour. He currently works with EXOS Human Performance in the US.

James has a new book out, entitled "Team Building Activities for Athletes: How to master the art of building a successful team culture through intentional activities." I love the book and wanted to bring James on the pod to tell us all about it.

Click HERE to grab some of James' awesome activities for free!

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show

On the show today, I'm winding the clock back to December 2021 to when I sat down with Professor Arne Güllich.

Arne is a sports scientist and researcher at Technical University of Kaiserslautern, in Germany. He's published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, including his latest paper "What Makes a Champion? Early Multidisciplinary Practice, Not Early Specialization, Predicts World-Class Performance", and has coached across multiple levels in sport for number of years.

In this conversation, Arne and I discuss his research findings on talent development, coaching, how to develop motivated, self-determined young people, and much more.

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show

Today I'm stoked to welcome Dr Balin Cupples, head of performance at the One NZ Warriors.

What I love about Balin's story, and why I brought him on the show, is the insight he brings at the intersection between science and practice.

Balin has a strong academic background, having earned a Bachelor of Education, a Master of Education, and not long ago a PhD from the University of Sydney. But he also grew up playing the game and made a handful of NRL appearances for the Wests Tigers Rugby League Club in his early twenties.

In this conversation, Balin shares his PhD research findings, which investigated what successful talent development environments look like in schools.

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show

In this episode of the Curious Mind, Dave Wright, founder of Player Development Project, and I reflect on our summer break in Aotearoa, including how our emotions affect the experiences of our children and athletes. 

We also dig into:

• Social status, the ego and the risk of adult intervention devoid of awareness;
• Praise versus affirmation;
• The monkey mind;
• The importance of role modelling;
• Getting comfortable with risk, and;
• Getting clear on the outcome we are looking for.

Enjoy!

Please submit your questions for our next Curious Mind by flicking Craig a message here.

Sign up for Craig's newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
Facebook: facebook.com/drcraigharrison
Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Support the show