Sports Coaching, Elite Sport, Sports Psychology - Sports Coach RadioSports Coach Radio

Sep
15

Sports Psychology: Dr. Kristin Keim on Winning & Being Happy

Mindful peak performance, anxiety management
sports-psychology-kristin-keim-3
Sports Psychologist Kristin Keim is our guest this week. She works across all sports, with particular expertise in cycling, where she was once an elite rider. She also works extensively with athletes in triathlon, running, rowing, swimming and several other sports.

Dr. Keim has a PsyD in clinical psychology and an M.A. in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University in California.

We discuss some deep topics in this wide-ranging interview but in a fun way, trust me. Subjects include Kristin’s experiences working closely with a medal-contending athlete in Rio 2016, as well as her clinical specialisms in anxiety, depression, easting disorders, obsessive-compulsive behavior and attention deficit-hyperactity, among the many issues that athletes, coaches and non-sporty people contend with.

Her website is: www.keimperformanceconsulting.com
Read More

Aug
30

By Glenn Whitney

Running Coach & Chiropractic Richard Hansen On Healthy High Performance

Category: Marathon, Strength & Conditioning, Track & Field

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Injury prevention, over-training, recovery

A doctor of chiropractic and a passionate running coach – it makes for a really interesting conversation about everything from injury prevention, barefoot running to raw kale smoothies.

Richard Hansen is head of Roots Running, a Boulder, Colorado-based Olympic development group focused on distances from 1,500 meters to the marathon. Richard also leads a busy medical practice called High Altitude Spine & Sport, whose aim is to provide current, evidence-based treatment and education for athletes.

Aug
24

By Glenn Whitney

Sports Psychology: Your Brain on Sports With Sam Sommers

Category: Mental toughness, Motivation

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

sam sommer sports psychology Mental fitness; coach education

Do you ever wonder what your brain on sports looks like? Sam Sommers knows. He is the co-author of an excellent book by that title and a social psychologist at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

This is a fun but also useful interview with lots of practical ideas. Among numerous topics we cover: The Curse of the Expert: Why the best players make the worst coaches, and the frequent, often brutal turnover rates among head coaches at the top level professional sports.
sports psychology your brain on sports

Sports Coach Radio is hosted by Glenn Whitney, a sports and leadership psychologist. You can subscribe to us on Apple iTunes and follow us on Twitter with the handle: @sportscoachtalk. And if you have a moment, we’d very much appreciate it if you could leave a short review on the Apple iTunes site. Your review will help other people find out about the show.
Read More

Aug
14

By Glenn Whitney

Rio Focus: USA Water Polo’s Adam Krikorian Seeks a Second Gold: Re-broadcast

Category: Olympics, Team dynamics

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Athlete-to-coach transition, John Wooden UCLA legacy; Re-broadcast

Adam Krikorian struck gold in his first Olympics as head coach – in London 2012 with the USA women’s water polo team. He began coaching the squad in 2009, in addition to having the same role at UCLA since 2000.

Adam is a former standout water polo player himself, with lots of fascinating things to say about making the transition from athlete to coach. You’ll hear about how the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden has been major source of inspiration. Like Wooden,

Adam is refreshingly modest and open, qualities that were dramatically apparent in the later stages of the Olympics, which you’ll also hear about when he discusses a key mistake he made and its aftermath.
Read More

Aug
12

By Glenn Whitney

Rio Focus: Coaching Ashton Eaton For a Place In History (Re-broadcast)

Category: Olympics, Track & Field

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Decathlon: Ashton Eaton, Brianne Theisen-Eaton (Re-broadcast)

For long-time followers of the podcast and or track and field, Harry Marra needs no introduction. He¹s graced us with his presence twice before. Back again after a triumphant season guiding decathlete Ashton Eaton to World Championship Gold in Beijing and heptathlete Brianne Theisen Eaton to the silver in the same competition.

Coach Marra gives us some intimidate insights into this critical period leading up to the Olympics in Rio. Asthton, who holds the world record as well as having won Olympic Gold in London, quite possibly deserves the title the greatest athlete of all time. Certainly his case will be strengthened if his tops the table in Brazil this summer. And if Brianne can break through and win gold, the three quite possibly will become the most successful training trio in history.

As you will hear in this interview, at 68 Coach Marra may or may not be on the verge of retirement but either way, this is yet another generous insight from him into the mind of a master coach.

Sports Coach Radio is a series of weekly in-depth interview with world-class sports coaches, scientists and writers, hosted by Glenn Whitney, a coaching and leadership advisor. Follow us on Twitter, where we post coaching tips and links to interesting articles just about every day of the week. The handle is @sportscoachtalk. And we’d be grateful if you’d leave a short review of the show on the Apple iTunes page.

Topics: Decathlon, Ashton Eaton, periodization, Olympics, 400m, guarding against complacency, Rio 2016, focus, mental toughness, brain training, power vs. speed endurance, Harry Marra, Brianne Theisen-Eaton

Aug
11

By Glenn Whitney

Rio Focus: USA Sports Psychologist Peter Haberl On Mental Fitness (Re-broadcast)

Category: Mental toughness, Motivation, Olympics

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sports psychology, mental toughness, mindfulness (re-broadcast)

This week we’re joined by Peter Haberl a senior sports psychologist for the United States Olympic Committee. Peter has worked with some of the most successful teams in recent history including medal winning squads in Men’s and Women’s Water Polo, Women’s Indoor Volleyball and Track Cycling

Based at the USOC headquarters in Colorado Springs, Peter has a particular interest it what’s known as mindfulness based interventions and cognitive behavioral treatments, which you’ll hear a lot about in this interview. Peter grew up in Austria, played professional hockey in Europe for 10 years and represented his country in two world championships.

Aug
10

By Glenn Whitney

Rio Focus: Sprint Star Dafne Schippers’ Coach Bart Bennema (Re-broadcast)

Category: Track & Field

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sprinting, “The Female Usain Bolt” (Re-broadcast)
Bart Bennema is coaching one of the biggest breakthrough athletes of the year – in any sport! She’s 23 year-old Dutch woman Dafne Schippers, recently crowned 200 meter sprint champion in the 2015 Beijing Track & Field World Championships, as well as the silver medallist in the 100 meters.

Given her unusual height and power over both 100m and 200m, some experts are starting to call her the female Usain Bolt although her Netherlands training environment is the opposite of a Caribbean island.

A mere six months ago, Dafne was focused on the seven events of heptathlon, and not doing too badly. In fact she placed 3rd at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

Bart, a former national-class decathlete, has been coaching Dafne since she was a teenager. Bart, who is 38, also coaches Nadine Fisser, a Dutch heptathlete who strong in sprint hurdles.

As they pause before getting ready for Rio, this is a candid and wide-ranging interview covering one of the most exciting career phases that any athlete and coach pairing can experience. We talk about handling increasingly intense commercial demands of an athlete with global star appeal, accusations of doping, mood management and curbing the frenetic enthusiasm of athletes who have a tendency to over-train

Sports Coach Radio is a series of weekly in-depth interview with world-class sports coaches, scientists and writers, hosted by Glenn Whitney, a coaching and leadership advisor. Follow us on Twitter, where we post coaching tips and links to interesting articles just about every day of the week. The handle is @sportscoachtalk. And we’d be grateful if you’d leave a short review of the show on the Apple iTunes page.

Topics: Sprinting, Athletics, Track & Field, 100m, 200m, Dafne Schippers, Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser Price, Bart Bennema, Netherlands, Beijing 2015, Michael Johnson, Allyson Felix, Dafne Schippers

Aug
9

By Glenn Whitney

Rio Ready: Endurance Track Coach Andy Sparks Leads a Renewal (Re-broadcast)

Category: Cycling

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sarah Hammer’s coach; Endurance expert getting ready for a breakthrough in Rio; Re-broadcast

USA Cycling’s Andy Sparks is back to update us on what has been an excellent season.

Since we last spoke, about two years ago, Andy has relocated to Colorado Springs and become USA Cycling’s Endurance Track Head Coach as well as the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Para-Cycling Track Head Coach. He’s also personal coach (and husband) to seven-time World Champion Sarah Hammer, whose performances just keep going from strength to strength.
Sports Coach Radio.com is a weekly series interviews with world-class coaches, sports scientists and sports thinkers. It’s hosted by me, Glenn Whitney. I’m an adviser to coaches and a leadership consultant. Follow us on Twitter – the handle @sportscoachtalk. And how about writing a short review of the show – just a sentence or two — on the Apple iTunes page and we’ll thank you at the beginning of the next episode.

Sarah Hammer’s coach; Endurance expert getting ready for a breakthrough in Rio

USA Cycling: Endurance Track Coach Andy Sparks Leads a Renewal for Rio
Read More

Aug
8

By Glenn Whitney

Rio Focus: USA Cycling Leader Jim Miller on Winning Gold Medals (Re-broadcast)

Category: Cycling, Olympics

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Renewing USA Cycling (Re-broadcast)
USA Cycling is in focus this time around. Jim Miller is USA Cycling’s Team Leader and Vice President of Athletics.

Jim coached Kristin Armstrong to gold medals in Beijing and in London, where she was almost 38 years old at the time; quite an achievement. By the way, Kristin is not related in any way to Lance Armstrong.

Jim has also been instrumental in developing two rising stars in men’s endurance cycling – Ben King, and Tejay van Garderen, who won the young rider title at the 2012 Tour de France – that’s the first time an American rider has won the coveted white jersey in 25 years.
Read More

Aug
5

By Glenn Whitney

Rio Ready: Judo’s Jimmy Pedro On Guiding Kayla Harrison to Gold (Re-broadcast)

Category: Mental toughness, Olympics

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

An inspiring story of recovery, dedication and discipline

Sensai Jimmy Pedro, sixth degree black belt, is one of the top judo instructors in the U.S. and the coach responsible for winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal ever – by Kayla Harrison in London 2012. She’s certainly in contention to repeat that massivement accomplishment in Rio.

The circumstances around the time Jimmy began working with Kayla and the obstacles they had to overcome to win make for an amazing story.

Jimmy Pedro is a veteran of four Olympic Games as a competitor himself and a winner of a bronze medal.He’s based in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Along with his father, who is also a highly acclaimed coach, Jimmy runs Pedro’s Judo Center.

Jul
29

By Glenn Whitney

Doping, Performance Enhancing Drug Expert Mark Johnson

Category: Cycling, Sports nutrition

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Illegal drug violations
Spitting in the Soup: Inside the Dirty Game of Doping in Sports – just in time for the Rio Olympics, we’re talking with the author of this new book. Mark Johnson has covered cycling and endurance sports as a writer and photographer since the 1980s A few years ago, Mark was embedded for 12 months with the Garmin-Cervélo professional cycling team. A category II road cyclist, Mark has ridden across the United States twice. And – you won’t hear this about many sports journalists – he has a PhD in English Literature, from Boston University.

Sports Coach Radio is a series of weekly in-depth interview with world-class sports coaches, scientists and writers, hosted by Glenn Whitney, a coaching and leadership advisor. Follow us on Twitter, where we post coaching tips and links to interesting articles just about every day of the week. The handle is @sportscoachtalk. And we’d be grateful if you’d leave a short review of the show on the Apple iTunes page.
Read More

Jul
16

By Glenn Whitney

Mental Coach Derin McMains of Notre Dame, Ex San Francisco Giants Baseball

Category: Mental toughness, Sports psychology

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Growth Mindset, mental toughness, sports psychology
A deep dive this week into some of our favorite topics: mental toughness, sports psychology and the Growth Mindset. Derin McMains is our guest. He is Director of Mental Conditioning at the University of Notre Dame, working across about 20 different teams at that hallowed institution.

Derin is formerly Peak Performance Coordinator for the San Francisco Giants in Major League Baseball. He spent 2008 to 2012 as a coach with the Giants and was awarded World Series Rings as a member of the player development staff in 2010, 2012 and 2014. He has also worked extensively with aspiring professional football players as they prepared for the NFL Combine.

From 2001 to 2008, Derin played professional baseball with the Giants organization. He has a Masters degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology from the Arizona School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University.

Jul
8

By Glenn Whitney

Pioneering Professional Baseball S&C Coach Rachel Balkovec

Category: Baseball, Strength & Conditioning

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

We have pioneering strength and conditioning coach Rachel Balkovec this week. She’s the first ever female S&C coach to work for a professional baseball team – the Houston Astros organization, currently as Latin American coordinator.

While still in the early stages of her career, Rachel has already paid quite a lot of dues, working previously in S&C roles at the St. Louis Cardinals, the Chicago White Sox and Arizona State University.

Rachel’s other mission is to inspire and female athletes, and students in general, to elevate their standards for life and empower others. More information about this is on her website: www.rachelbalkovec.com

Rachel has a master’s degree in sports administration from Louisiana State University, and a B.A. in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from the University of New Mexico.

Jun
28

By Glenn Whitney

Super Champion Sports Psychologist Dave Collins On Mental Fitness

Category: Mental toughness, Motivation, Sports psychology

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Mental toughness; athlete psychological skills
Sports psychologist Professor Dave Collins is this week’s guest. He’s an expert on high-performance and specifically what makes a Super Champion versus an ordinary Champion and an “Almost.” He’s the lead researcher on a recent study into this matter, which we’ve featured on the blog.

Dave’s current affiliations are with the University of Central Lancashire and Grey Matters Performance Consulting. He has worked extensively in British rugby and football, including with the national teams as well as with U.K. Athletics, where he was Performance Director from 2005 to 2008. He is the co-author of Performance Psychology: A Practitioner’s Guide and dozens of academic papers.

Sports Coach Radio is a series of weekly in-depth interview with world-class sports coaches, scientists and writers, hosted by Glenn Whitney, a coaching and leadership advisor. Follow us on Twitter, where we post coaching tips and links to interesting articles just about every day of the week. The handle is @sportscoachtalk. And we’d be grateful if you’d leave a short review of the show on the Apple iTunes page.
Read More

Jun
20

By Glenn Whitney

Endurance, Triathlon & Holistic Health Guru Phil Maffetone

Category: Ironman, Sports nutrition, Triathlon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Ironman coach, over-training expert

One of our favorite guests is back for a third time: Endurance training and holistic health supremo Doctor Phil Maffetone.

Well-known for working with six-time Ironman triathlon world champion Mark Allen, renaissance man Dr. Phil has been just about everywhere and done just about everything including helping musicians like James Taylor, Johnny Cash and the Red Hot Chili Peppers stay healthy on tour.

He’s founder of the Maximum Aerobic Function Method, known as MAF – probably the most effective approach I’ve seen to prevent over-training and to fix broken athletes. He’s also a leading pioneer of low-carb, relatively high fat real food diets for athletes.

Dr. Phil has authored and co-authored 17 books, including The Healthy Golfer, The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing and The Million Dollar Marathon.

Jun
14

By Glenn Whitney

Basketball Coach Adam Filippi; Skill Development & Obsessive Excellence

Category: Basketball

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

NBA scout, shooting coach, free throw expert

Basketball’s in focus this week, and also skill development. We have perhaps the world’s leading expert on the free-throw, also known as the foul shot: Adam Filippi.

Adam is also Director of Global Scouting for the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA and author of the books Shoot like the Pros: The Road to Successful Shooting Technique and the recently published Mastering the Art of Free Throw Shooting.

Adam previously had roles as talent scout and shooting coach for the Los Angeles Lakers and the New Jersey Nets. As you’ll hear, Adam takes a near-obsessive approach to developing skills, and coaches from any sport will relate to his drive for absolute excellence.

Check out Adam’s website: http://probasketballtraining.com/

Topics: Basketball coach Adam Fillipi; skill development & obsessive excellence, depth interview, NBA scout, shooting coach, free throw expert, Charlotte Hornets, shooting technique, free throw coach, foul shot coach, L.A. Lakers

May
25

By Glenn Whitney

Fixing Mission Critical Failures With Tennis Coach Ash Smith

Category: Motivation, Tennis

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Coaching skills, talent development
We’re talking about plucking low hanging fruit and preventing mission critical failures this week with tennis coach Ash Smith. Based in southern England, Ash has particular expertise in wheelchair tennis and has coached numerous World Champions and Paralympic medal winners. You can check out his insightful blog at www.superhumanperformance.org.

Excerpts from a recent article by Ash:
“… my goal now is to talk less in sessions than the athlete does; being curious, asking questions, facilitating, guiding and creating problems for the athletes to solve – this way of working leads (both in my own opinion and backed up by coaching research) to more robust, long-term skill acquisition.

“…only be directive when there is “low hanging fruit” and only when the situation warrants it (usually in a competitive phase of the cycle). It may not lead to robust behaviour change, but a quick reminder of a key word or phrase during competition can make all the difference.”

Topics: Coaching skills, talent development, coach learning, listening skills for coaches, continuous professional development, tennis coaching, wheelchair tennis, Ash Smith, Paralympics, Fixing mission critical failures with tennis coach Ash Smith @SuperHuman247

Sports Psychology: Dr. Kristin Keim on Winning & Being Happy

Running Coach & Chiropractic Richard Hansen On Healthy High Performance

Sports Psychology: Your Brain on Sports With Sam Sommers

Rio Focus: USA Water Polo’s Adam Krikorian Seeks a Second Gold: Re-broadcast

Rio Focus: Coaching Ashton Eaton For a Place In History (Re-broadcast)

Rio Focus: USA Sports Psychologist Peter Haberl On Mental Fitness (Re-broadcast)

Rio Focus: Sprint Star Dafne Schippers’ Coach Bart Bennema (Re-broadcast)

Rio Ready: Endurance Track Coach Andy Sparks Leads a Renewal (Re-broadcast)

Rio Focus: USA Cycling Leader Jim Miller on Winning Gold Medals (Re-broadcast)

Rio Ready: Judo’s Jimmy Pedro On Guiding Kayla Harrison to Gold (Re-broadcast)

Doping, Performance Enhancing Drug Expert Mark Johnson

Mental Coach Derin McMains of Notre Dame, Ex San Francisco Giants Baseball

Pioneering Professional Baseball S&C Coach Rachel Balkovec

Super Champion Sports Psychologist Dave Collins On Mental Fitness

Endurance, Triathlon & Holistic Health Guru Phil Maffetone

Basketball Coach Adam Filippi; Skill Development & Obsessive Excellence

Fixing Mission Critical Failures With Tennis Coach Ash Smith

Most Recent Posts

Subscribe in iTunes

Featured Posts

Coach's video corner

Archives

Welcome from Glenn