This week, I'm excited to be talking with Young People's Lead at Athletics New Zealand , Fiona Maisey. It's a relatively new role for the organisation, yet super important considering 82% of registered participants in the sport are under the age of 18. Fiona brings a diverse background to the position, including many years practising as a nurse, parenting 4 boys, and a passion for music. We dig into all of this on the show.

We also talk about Fiona's efforts to create young people friendly environments, including the importance of finding your tribe, why time is such a valuable resource for building meaningful relationships, retaining teenagers in the sport, avoiding athlete entitlement, what fun really looks  like for young people, learning how to lose, the importance of gratitude, coaching the person, and much more.

I've always loved athletics. There's something about how it tests the fundamentals of human physiology  - speed, power, endurance - that really appeals to me. So I'm really excited to bring Fiona on the show to share with us her thoughts on development and where the sport of athletics is headed in the future.

Enjoy!

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Ben Old (@_oldie8) played his football in Auckland as a kid before moving to Wellington as a 16 year old to join the Wellington Phoenix. After 3 years playing for the Academy he signed a deal to play professionally for the first team and made his debut as a substitute in the team's 3–0 win over Western United. Ben went on to make 25 first team appearances in his maiden season, starting 12 of them. 

Ben also represented New Zealand at the 2019 U-17 World Cup in Brazil and was a travelling reserve for the OlyWhites team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. I first met Ben when he joined AD, the Athlete Development programme I was leading at AUT Millennium in Auckland. He was just 9 years old at the time. 

In this conversation, we cover a wide range of topics including how Ben handles the pressure of playing in front of 35,000 fans and where this skill came from, the importance of disciplined practice and how Ben learnt to work hard, and being a child golf prodigy. Ben also talks about his recent hernia operation and what he has learnt about his body as a result of it, and we go deep into some of Ben's core beliefs, including his perfectionistic streak and how he has learnt to challenge it. 

Ben's reflective nature and level of awareness at such a young age is inspiring and is bound to serve him well in his career. You'll notice a real willingness to be vulnerable in the conversation, which I love and I think we can all learn from. 

Enjoy!

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On the show today, I'm winding the clock back a couple of years to when I sat down with Dr Katie Cunningham to talk about joy.  Dr Katie Cunningham is an Associate Professor of Literacy and English Education at Manhattanville College and the author of "Start With Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness". 

In her book, Katie describes 7 pillars at the heart of joyful literacy experiences - connection, choice, challenge, play, story, discovery and movement. I love how each pillar transfers beautifully to athlete development, and the idea of "starting with joy" continues to have a big impact on my work. 

Enjoy!

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Welcome to episode #04 of The Curious Mind,  our new format of The Athlete Development Show released monthly where Craig sits down with co-founder of Player Development Project and coach Dave Wright to discuss your questions.

Please submit your questions for future episodes by flicking Craig a message here.

On the show today, Dave and Craig cover a bunch of questions including how to foster your child's inner drive, or whether in fact your should even worry about it, how to decide what development programme you should sign your kids up to for healthy development, whether or not young athletes should lift weights, how much running is too much for a 9 year old, and much more.

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What really is talent? And how do we measure it?

My guest on today's show suggests we are a long way off answering either of these questions with any certainty and so we should stop trying. Instead, we should focus on designing sporting environments that support every young learner.

Dr. Joe Baker (@bakerjyorku) is Professor and Director of the Lifespan Performance Laboratory at York University, Canada.

His research considers the varying influences on optimal human development, ranging from issues affecting athlete development and skill acquisition to barriers and facilitators of optimal aging.

Joe works with high performance sports teams and organizations around the world in their quest for international success.

In this episode we dig into Joe's latest book "The Tyranny of Talent: How it compels and limits athlete achievement… and why you should ignore it."

We also chat about common human biases and how they affect coaching, the problem with splitting development into participation and performance pathways, first principles of athlete development, why collaboration in research is so important, combating early specialisation, and much more.

Enjoy!

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The traditional definition of a coach is someone who gives instruction to help an athlete or direct team strategy. The problem with this definition, however, is that it can result in a one-way flow of information - from coach to athlete - which doesn't necessarily line up with how young people learn.

On the show today, I chat with coach developer and researcher, Rob Mason (@rob_mason12). Rob holds a PhD in Education and a Masters of Teaching from the University of Melbourne. He currently works as the Coach Development Manager at Port Adelaide Football Club in Australia. Rob frequently presents to organisations on game day communication, feedback and coaching science and writes about his work here.  

In this conversation, Rob shares how a coach can deliver feedback in ways that best support the learning and all-round development of their athletes.

We also discuss:

• The huge influence Rob's dad has had on his coaching;
• Rob's love for books;
• Being a career procrastinator;
• The importance of earning credibility from your athletes and how to do it;
• Using an action research approach to improve your coaching;
• Why what you say in your feedback is not always the same as what is heard; and
• More.

I love Rob's reflective nature and clarity of thought, as well as how willing he is to really assess the impact of his work. Please enjoy the show. 

Kia ora!

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The Wellington Phoenix is the only professional football club in New Zealand. Today on the show we explore the academy system in charge of developing their elite players of tomorrow.

To better understand the club's processes - and how they get the balance right between striving for success and looking after the young people at the heart of it - I sat down with Phoenix Academy Director, Paul Temple (@paultemplecoach). 

Paul Temple is an UEFA A license coach and has been working in football for over 20 years. In addition to leading the Academy at the Phoenix, he also works for New Zealand Football as the Men's U20 Assistant National Team Coach.

I've known Paul since we met as part of the New Zealand U17 Women's Team staff back in 2011. I love the way he thinks about development, both from a strategic point of view, and how he rolls it out on the grass in practice. In this conversation, I wanted to understand Paul's core values - both personally and as a professional - and how he uses them to drive behaviour. I think this comes through very clearly. 

We also talk about the importance of a growth mindset, the intersection between the ex-pro and the career coach and how Paul brings the two together, how they recruit young players at the Phoenix, the key ingredients for successful long-term player development, Ted Lasso, and much more.

I really enjoyed this conversation and am stoked to bring it to you. 

Kia ora!

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This week on the show, I sat down with my good friend, Dave Wright.

Dave is head of coaching at Birkenhead United FC in Auckland, New Zealand and Co-founder of Player Development Project, a platform offering a massive collection of coach education resources and online courses. 

Dave and I often catch up to talk coaching, kids and athlete development, so we thought why not record our conversation and share it with you. 

Today, we discuss what it's like being a dad while working in youth sport, the importance of joy, individualisation within group environments, coach development, and much more.

If you like this format, please let us know and we'll keep doing it!

Kia ora!

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Stephen Cobley is an Associate Professor in motor control, skill acquisition, and sport and exercise psychology at The University of Sydney. 

He earned his Bachelor's degree at Loughborough University, his Master's degree at Queen's University in Canada, and his PhD at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK.

​Steve's research examines developmental factors that constrain learning, development, and performance across sport, educational, and workplace settings.

In this episode, Steve and I discuss some fascinating work his team is doing in swimming looking at the effect of biological maturation on performance. 

Kia ora!

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Nick Webb (@nick_webby) is a strength and conditioning and performance specialist. 

Over the last 15 years, Nick has worked for the NZ Warriors, NZ Cricket, the Indian Cricket Team, and more recently, Pakistan Cricket. 

In 2011, Nick earned a Master of Health Science with First Class Honours from AUT University and he is currently studying towards a Master of Business Administration at Massey University. 

In this conversation, Nick starts by sharing one of his early experiences that had a profound impact on who he has become today.  

Kia ora!

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