The Half Court Press Podcast

Matt Rowe is a football coach and PE teacher in Mexico City. After starting out as a teenage coach in his native Britain, he moved over to work in North and Central America in search for new opportunities and interesting experiences. Here, he ended up working for West Ham FC's international academy and then FutAcademy in Mexico, before taking a sports job in a school. In this interview we talk about his various roles within the sport of football, what he has learnt throughout his career, as well as the differences between his job as a physical education teacher and as an extra curricular sports coach.

Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of the Half Court Press Podcast. In this series, Tao MacLeod talks to a variety of sports professionals about how they think youth team players should be developed.

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Matt Noble has worked as both a football and a cricket coach. Like any good Yorkshireman, he likes his bat and ball game and, whilst living and working in Mexico City, was one of the international youth team coaches for the Mexico National Cricket Team. Whilst in this role, he also worked as a football coach for FutAcademy. Now he’s involved in the girls and community engagement programmes put on by Leeds United Football Club.

Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of the Half Court Press Podcast. In this series, Tao MacLeod talks to a variety of sports professionals about how they think youth team players should be developed.

The Half Court Press Podcast is available on…

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Luke Thorp is a football coach who has travelled around the world in search of new sporting experiences. Originally from the United Kingdom, he is now in Mexico City working as the Technical Director for FutAcademy. He has gained a varied range of perspectives from coaching different age groups in his sport of choice from Western Europe to Central America.

Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of the Half Court Press Podcast. In this series, Tao MacLeod talks to a variety of sports professionals about how they think youth team players should be developed.

The Half Court Press Podcast is available on…

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Neil Shaw is a well known figure within the hockey community on the East Coast of Scotland. Formerly of Waverly Inveresk Trinity (WIT) Hockey Club, he went on to represent his local team in the National 1st Division, as well as having chaired the club’s committee as President. More recently, he has been called up to the Scottish Masters (Over 45’s) team that won the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam. Neil has also been actively involved in junior and development team coaching, within the sport of hockey, for a number of years now.

Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of the Half Court Press Podcast. In this series, Tao MacLeod talks to a variety of sports professionals about how they think youth team players should be developed.

The Half Court Press Podcast is available on…

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Poorya Mortazavi is a football coach with an interesting background. He born and raised in Denmark to Iranian parents, spent a period of his later schooling in the English capital city, of London, before moving across to the Americas. He spent time working in Mexico, before moving to the United States of America, where he now is progressing with his coaching career. In addition to his vocational experience, Poorya also has a couple of Master’s Degrees, firstly in Sports Coaching from Loughborough University and more recently in Sports Administration from Georgia State University.

Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of the Half Court Press Podcast. In this series, Tao MacLeod talks to a variety of sports professionals about how they think youth team players should be developed.

The Half Court Press Podcast is available on…

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Ryan Godsmark is a Scottish born rugby player, who now lives in Belgium, playing for the national team after competing in the league structure over there for several years. He is also a rugby coach and sports teacher and is in fact the Head of Rugby at the British School of Brussels. Ryan also has a sports science degree from Edinburgh Napier University.

Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of the Half Court Press Podcast. In this series, Tao MacLeod talks to a variety of sports professionals about how they think youth team players should be developed.

The Half Court Press Podcast is available on…

iTunes

Spotify

Google Podcasts

Apple Podcasts

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RadioPublic

Suzanne Sinclair Hamill is a sports coach, based on the East Coast of Scotland. Working as a freelancer in schools and clubs around the Edinburgh area, she is predominately involved in hockey. Suzy is also the Youth Convenor at Dunfermline Carnegie H.C. She has a broad range of views on developing youth team players and school students, who are involved in sporting activities. Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of the Half Court Press Podcast. In this series, Tao MacLeod talks to a variety of sports professionals about how they think youth team players should be developed. 

The Half Court Press Podcast is available on… 

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Michael Linnecar is a football coach who, as a player, has progressed through the junior ranks at professional clubs in England, as well as having played at a senior level in the Welsh Premier League. Now, Mike runs FutAcademy, which is his own football academy in Mexico City.

Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of the Half Court Press Podcast. In this series, Tao MacLeod talks to a variety of sports professionals about how they think youth team players should be developed.

The Half Court Press Podcast is available on…

iTunes

Spotify

Google Podcasts

Apple Podcasts

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Overcast

Anchor

Pocket Casts

RadioPublic

The sport of hockey is played and enjoyed all over the world. In the sixth season of the Half Court Press Podcast we focus on what has been happening in the Pan American region of the sport. In this series we gain perspectives and opinions from those involved in the game that might not always have been heard from much before now. For our sixth episode we have an interview with Jamaican hockey international, Kemar Mitchell. Hailing from the Caribbean, he has had a successful career in his home region, as well as having played for the New York Islanders, on the East Coast of the USA. Here, we talk about the clubs that he’s played for, the league structure in Jamaica and the potential benefits of having a West Indies hockey team.