This week we are joined by some of our Patreon members live from the 5th Movement Skills Acquisition Conference. 

In this week's episode Martyn and Ian discuss creativity in coaching.

Check out our Patreon site at https://www.patreon.com/c/TheConstraintsCollective

Michael is a skill acquisition specialist who has worked within the National Institute Network (Australia) as a practitioner and researcher since 2012. He has a PhD in skill acquisition in sport, with a focus on practice methods for skill retention and transfer.

Michael has had industry appointments as a skill acquisition specialist at the South Australian Sports Institute and the Australian Institute of Sport where he was responsible for the support of coaches seeking to develop the skills of their athletes. He has a joint appointment between the AIS and the University of Canberra as a lecturer of skill acquisition.

Tom Coyd is an English rugby league player and wheelchair rugby league coach. He plays for Medway Dragons in the London and South East Rugby League and is the head coach of London Roosters and the England national wheelchair rugby league team. 

In the King's 2023 Birthday Honours he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to wheelchair rugby league football. 

Tom Coyd's first coaching experience with the national side was in 2018 when he joined as an assistant coach. He was promoted to head coach in 2020. In November 2022 he led England to victory in the 2021 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup final. Coyd was awarded an MBE for services to wheelchair rugby league in the King's 2023 Birthday Honours. At the 2023 Man of Steel Awards, Coyd was named the Wheelchair Super League Coach of the Year. At the 2023 UK Coaching Awards, he won the "Greatest Coaching Moment" award for sporting events between 1 November 2022 and 20 November 2023 with the World Cup victory, narrowly surpassing Sarina Wiegman's World Cup campaign with the England women's national football team which cumulated in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup final. 

Made of Steel: Wheelchair Rugby’s Fiercest Rivalry

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001r9zl/storyville-made-of-steel-wheelchair-rugbys-fiercest-rivalry

Rob completed his BA in Psychology at Queen’s University and his MS and PhD in Experimental Psychology at York University. After receiving his PhD in 1998, he worked as a Research Scientist for Nissan Motor Corporation in Cambridge, MA, USA. In 2001 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the newly formed Applied Psychology Program at Arizona State University. In 2006 he was appointed Associate Professor and Program Head. 

Since 2005 he has also worked part-time as a Research Psychologist for the United States Air Force. From January-June 2010 he was appointed as a Visiting Professor in Sport Sciences at the University of the Mediterranean in France. From 2010-2014 he was a Reader (Associate Professor) in Perception & Action in the School of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham, UK. 

His research focuses on perceptual-motor control with a particular emphasis on the demanding actions involved in driving, aviation, and sports. His goal is to conduct basic research that can be applied towards the improvement of training, simulation, accident prevention and human-machine interface development within these contexts. 

In 2007 he was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association and the Earl Alluisi Award for Early Career Achievement in the Field of Applied Experimental & Engineering Psychology.

Pete Sturgess has dedicated his life to football coaching and coach development. Pete retired in March 2023 after working at the FA for 17 years. The majority of his tenure leading the way in coaching young children in the Foundation Phase. He has long been internationally recognised as an expert in his field and his retirement year saw him recognised formally for his contribution to football, coaching and sport. 

In honour of the influence Pete has had on coaches in the region, the Lancs FA renamed their 3G pitch to become the Pete Sturgess Hub. In October 2023, Pete was inducted into the Coach Development Hall of Fame at St George’s Park where his photo sits beside some of the other greats in coach education and in December 2023, Pete received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual UK Coaching Awards.

We were truly honoured to have Pete join us for episode 35.

Check out Pete's website https://www.thesessioncollective.co.uk/

Adam is currently working as a Senior Lecturer in Skill Acquisition at QUT. Adam completed his PhD through the University of Queensland under the supervision of Professor Bruce Abernethy and Professor Damian Farrow. His thesis investigated the capability of expert basketball players to extract information from the patterns of play that exist in a typical basketball game. 

Adam's previous work experience includes 4 years as a Physical Education teacher in British and Australian secondary schools, as well as 10 years working at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra, Australia, as a Senior Skill Acquisition Specialist. 

Adam's employment at the AIS involved working with a range of sports including basketball, netball, water polo, volleyball, rowing, swimming, and athletics. Adam's research interests cover a diverse range of topics, but most notably focus upon the areas of representative design of practice sessions, scaling of equipment for junior sport, performance analysis, manipulating constraints to enhance skill acquisition, and analysing the underlying factors that contribute to expertise in the sports domain. Adam continues to work with a number of different sports and sporting organisations ranging from elite sport through to junior and developmental levels.

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Adam-D-Gorman-53522550

Representative design: Does the addition of a defender change the execution of a basketball shot? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305888649_Representative_design_Does_the_addition_of_a_defender_change_the_execution_of_a_basketball_shot

Jona Bronswijk is a boxing coach working with the Dutch Olympic boxing squad. He is interested in practice and training designs that are informed by the constraints led approach. Jona is also studying for a masters degree in sport coaching science. 

Dr Kane Middleton is an Associate Professor of Sport and Occupational Biomechanics within the Discipline of Sport and Exercise Science and the Sport, Performance, and Nutrition Research Group. Kane also serves as La Trobe University's Academic Program Director for the La Trobe - Sheffield Hallam joint PhD program. He completed his PhD in Sports Biomechanics at The University of Western Australia and has previously held post-doctoral positions at The University of Western Australia and the University of Wollongong.

Jack Bale is a PhD student at La Trobe University. He is interested in the Ecological Dynamics Framework and its application to combat shooting, where he is uniquely positioned to combine his sports science background with extensive experience as an ISSF rifle shooter. Jack has shot for Great Britain at European Championships, World Cups, and the World Championships. He is actively applying his shooting knowledge by coaching ISSF rifle athletes in Australia, from athletes just starting out to those aiming for success on the world stage. 

In this episode with discuss learning and performing in sport. For too long, learning and performing have been viewed as separate processes—train, then apply. 

But is that truly how we skilfully engage in competitive situations?  

In this episode we suggest learning and performing are a symbiotic process. If you’re not learning while performing or performing while learning, are you truly progressing?

We discuss this theme from a motor learning and skill adaptation perspective and explore how to create environments that balance exploration (learning) and execution (performing). 

This approach can develop problem solvers who can adapt, attune, and thrive under real-world conditions.

Papers discuss in the episode.

Learning and performing: What can theory offer high performance sports practitioners?
https://socibracom.com/bjmb/index.php/bjmb/article/view/280

An ecological dynamics approach to motor learning in practice: Reframing the learning and performing relationship in high performance sport 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667239122000089