This week we are joined Timo Jaakkola, Sami Kalaja, and Pauliina Vastamäki, organisers of the The International Motor Skills Acquisition Conference.

We discuss the forthcoming conference that will run from March 26th to 28th, 2025. Full conference details in the link below. 

Link to conference registration Event Registration - Kisakallio

Eric Brymer is an AHPRA registered psychologist, endorsed sport and exercise psychologist and board approved supervisor. He is also a chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society and Associate Professor at Southern Cross University.

Eric is interested in the psychology of performance, wellbeing and learning in adventure and nature-based contexts. His research is particularly focused on the impact of adventure and the human-nature relationship on health and wellbeing and the design of effective interventions.

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Georgia Askew is a skill acquisition specialist with Para Table Tennis, Australia. She is also a Ph.D. candidate at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, studying the integration of skill acquisition with paralympic coaches and athletes.

Georgia is also a Melbourne Storm fan!

Links to Georgia's academic publications
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2022.848735/full

https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/iscj/11/1/article-p154.xml

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003184430-8/role-skill-acquisition-coach-athlete-development-paralympic-sport-ross-pinder-daniel-powell-stephen-hadlow-georgia-askew-ra%C3%B4ul-oudejans

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Jim McKay is an Australian professional rugby union football coach. He has held head coaching positions across the world including Brisbane City (Australia), Cornish Pirates (UK) and Kobelco Steelers (Japan), and assistant coaching positions with the Queensland Reds (winning premierships in 2011 and 2021), and the Australian Wallabies Rugby Union Football team.

Jim uses theory and data to inform his coaching practice and is a lifelong learner.

Links to Jim's papers are here:
Practicing Unstructured Play in Team Ball Sports: A Rugby Union Example
https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/iscj/5/3/article-p273.xml

An Ecological Insight Into the Design and Integration of Attacking Principles of Play in Professional Rugby Union: A Case Example
https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/iscj/8/3/article-p394.xml?content=abstract

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Dr Alex Lascu is a skill acquisition amateur (lover of) and researcher at the University of Canberra and Victoria University. Their love of learning and development is currently being explored with WA Cricket, in the hopes of helping every coach start, and continue, their own learning journeys to help young people love sport for a lifetime.

Dr Alex also runs the https://skillacqlascu.com/ website. 

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Check out the The Constraints Collective Patreon site at patreon.com/TheConstraintsCollective

In this episode we introduce our Patreon site. The site will be updated on the 1st of every month with access to a range of education materials. In addition to education materials we will also be hosting a monthly get together on Zoom.

Check out the site at patreon.com/TheConstraintsCollective

Ana Ramos, Ph.D., is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, and a member of the Centre of Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport. Ana is also a European level volleyball coach and coach educator. 

Within the area of Sports Sciences, her research interests are related to the topics of sports training, sports pedagogy, practice design, didactics, action research, long-term athlete development, and performance analysis.

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In this episode with discuss the challenge of changing the tackle height in rugby league. Does this challenge need a shift in focus away from solving problems for players to providing environments that set problems and challenges for players to solve?

To help us make sense of this issue we are joined by Anthony Sullivan and Cameron Owen. 

Anthony Sullivan is a Welsh former professional dual code international rugby league and union footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He played representative level rugby league for Great Britain and Wales, and at club level for Hull KR and St Helens. He has experience of coaching both rugby union and league.

Cameron Owen is a research fellow in sports performance with an interest in research and statistical methods. Currently this is primarily focused on concussions and head acceleration events in rugby league. Additionally, he has a strong practical background providing physical performance in several sports including rugby league, diving, rugby union and netball. This combination of experiences gives him an unique perspectives on the application of research in sport and identifying key areas for academia to focus.

Carl has over 20 years of experience in teaching and coaching rugby. He is currently the Coach Education Manager and Performance Lead at the National Rugby League (NRL), where he collaborates with the National Education Program Development team to design, develop, and deliver a sustainable long-term Performance Coach Program in Rugby League. 

He is also a PhD candidate at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), researching the factors that influence creative decision-making in rugby union and the optimal pedagogical approaches to foster such expertise. 

His coaching philosophy is based on the constraints-based approach, which enables players to think critically, make decisions under pressure, and maximize their potential within the game. Carl's goal is to share his knowledge and insights with the rugby community and inspire the next generation of coaches and players.

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Jack is a PhD student at La Trobe University. He is interested in the Ecological Dynamics Framework and its application to 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.