Supporting Champions

This week's guest is Ryan King. Ryan is a strength and conditioning coach by trade. He has a background working at the EIS and England FA. In addition to his conditioning work Ryan has led numerous teams, for example managing the women’s pathway team, the performance support team and the innovation work at the FA. Ryan is now a performance strategist at Kitman labs and a performance consultant for his own business Blended Intelligence. But beyond the job titles is the way Ryan works which is highly considered, thoughtful and holistic. When I say holistic I mean he fully respects the climate, environment, the timing as well as the problem on the table. In this discussion we explore how to work in simple and complex situations, creating systems but being flexible and measuring our impact. But central to this is harnessing people and their full capability to create performance. I don’t think I will ever tire of speaking to Ryan he is one of these people who always brings fresh insight and perspective.   Links f

This week’s guest is Tom Geraghty Tom runs a business that supports and coaches people and teams in the area of psychological safety. He has created a reputation in this niche, through his work, his online contributions and a very impactful newsletter each week. Tom hasn’t come at this topic through what you might think is the traditional and formal psychological route, but from the position of a worker in an environment seeing how leaders misuse their position, create caustic environments and make people feel not only rubbish but inhibited too. And Tom then had sense and will to learn why, how, what and when these environments arise and how he could support people to make things better, to feel safer so that you can unlock their potential and performance. I really enjoyed this conversation with Tom, his deep thinking really added value and I hope you enjoy it too. Links Twitter https://twitter.com/tom_geraghty Website https://psychsafety.co.uk/ Newsletter https://psychsafety.co.uk/newsletter/   Hi, I'm Steve

I have two guests for you this week, Jenny Coe and Dr Amy Whitehead Jenny Coe is former international basketball player for Ireland and has spent her working career developing coaches and players, first at UK coaching and now working as a Head of Performance and Wellbeing with West Ham Women’s Football Team. Jenny also runs her own company Impact the Game a company that supports coaches and athletes in the area of sports psychology. Amy is a Reader in Sport Psychology and Coaching at Liverpool John Moores University, where she leads the Coaching and Pedagogy Research Group at LJMU and specialises in research in stressors and coping during competition. But the main reason that Jenny and Amy are on today is that they have co-edited a super interesting book called Myths of Sports Coaching, collating a range of common misconceptions and tackling them head on, giving sense over superstition, but also a clear understanding as to why myths have originated which I think really helps people see where some ideas such a

This week's guest is Colin Lewin  Colin was Arsenal Football Club’s physiotherapist from 2005 to 2018 - making that 22 years of front line medical support in elite football. Acting both as a physio and later as Head of Medical Services, Colin oversaw the creation of Arsenal’s outstanding purpose-built medical facilities in 2012 the £17 million player performance centre and implementing the Research & Development arm to the medical team. Colin now runs the Lewin Clinic in Essex with and consults with a number of football, NBA, NHL, NFL, Major League Baseball teams. Colin has such depth of experience and has seen a radical re-development of support teams in football, under the guidance of one of the pioneers in the game Arsene Wenger. This came out in our conversation with real perspective that I think is necessary not only as club’s grow and get caught in a performance science and medicine arms race but also balancing the need to actually do impactful work (not just do what a player or coach fancies doing)

Abbie Eaton is a racing driver having competed in a range of Series’ including the Mazda supercup, Super 2 series, 2 x British Champion and notably in the W series. She is also a test driver on the series The Grand tour. In this discussion Abbie talks about carving out a career as a woman in a male dominated sport, she shares her drive, personal ambitions to not only compete but to manage everything, from sponsors, to training, recovering from serious injury, to earning an income away from racing as a driving coach. This really encapsulates where the women’s sport is at the moment with top talent having to cope themselves, make things work as best they can, while staying competitive. For me this is an insight into the mind and pursuit of a pioneer. I listen to many of the lionesses recently thank all of the women who grafted to make their current rise in popularity possible and I think of people like Abbie - making it happen for herself but also taking the sport forward.   Follow Abbie on Instagram https://ww

This weeks guest is David Joyce. David is a physiotherapist by trade but over the last decade or so David has carved himself out as a strategic thinker, advisor, and developer of teams and leaders. He has learned his craft at the cold face in numerous systems based in Europe and Asia as a practitioner but his curiosity has led him to undertake some fascinating research in the area of strategic decision-making. And from this basis he has developed some real critical insights, informed by breadth of reading, discovery and application about how we make decisions. He now advises sports and businesses around the world through his own consultancy. David' is a super shrewd thinker who stretched my own thinking - so I learned loads in this conversation. To many of you though David is the coeditor of The book high-performance training for sports and I'm just acknowledging that now because it's worth bearing that in mind as you listen to the discussion, because David is still embedded in high-performance yet he has fol

This week’s episode is with Dr David Dunne. I mentioned a few weeks ago in the reboot episode that I will continue to speak to scientists, applied practitioners, coaches and athletes and those outside of sport. But I also flagged that I want to speak with entrepreneurs and consultants, people who’ve created businesses or are consulting for their income. David is one such person. He is a doctoral  at Liverpool John Moores in the area of how behaviour influences carbohydrate intake. He has done something quite interesting and I would say inspiring too. He’s taken that research and applied AI technology to form a digital application that helps athletes and nutritionists to optimise energy intake (HEXIS). As much as the application, I was fascinated to talk to David about his applied experiences as well as the road into start-ups, investment, product development and ultimately creating value for people.   Hi, I'm Steve Ingham Sports and Performance Scientist co-founder at Supporting Champions. I have the privileg

103 Danny Kerry on performance leadership Today's episode is with Danny Kerry. Danny has led the GB field hockey teams for 17 years. He recently coached the men’s team to the Tokyo Olympics, and is perhaps best known for coaching the women’s team from 2005 to 2012 and again from 2014 to 2018 - leading them to a bronze in London and a wonderful gold medal at the Rio Olympics. What you hear from Danny is a thoughtful, considerate yet performance focused leader of people, willing to make the hard decisions, give clear feedback and do what’s best - not only for the team but to be able to turn that focus on himself, his own development and his own performance.   Links Follow Danny on Twitter https://twitter.com/Danny_Kerry and Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-kerry-mbe-25676917/   Hi, I’m Steve Ingham, I help aspiring and professional Performance Science and Support Staff improve their skills, experience and mindset for working with sports performers through a range of online courses and an exclusive com

102: Vanessa Bohns on Influence Today’s episode is with Vanessa Bohns Professor of organisational behaviour at Cornell University. I spoke to Vanessa about her recent book “You have more influence than you think” with the subtitle of “How we underestimate our power of persuasion and why it matters”. I found this topic fascinating - because we spend so much time thinking about our ideas, interact with other people, trying to create change, while often being overly worried about what judgements people make of us. The book and the discussion helps you overcome some of those worries and champions us you to realise that we are influential.   Follow Vanessa on Twitter https://twitter.com/profbohns https://www.vanessabohns.com/   Hi, I’m Steve Ingham, I help aspiring and Professional Performance Science and Support Staff improve their skills, experience and mindset for working with sports performers through a range of online courses and an exclusive community hub https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/onlinecourse If

The podcast is BACK! We're delighted to be back and we've got some great conversations ahead for you! We've taken a bit of a break and now we're recording again Expect to hear from great scientist, coaches and athletes. Unique to the podcast we'll still be speaking those people outside of sport who are performers themselves or have insights that can inform what we do. We'll also be adding more voices from entrepreneurs out there; both business builder and consultants. We think the world has shifted in the way we work and we want to lean into hearing from people about making a living by selling what you know and can do. This week on the podcast I speak to Senior Lecturer Performance and Innovation at the University of Limerick, John Kiely. John has an incredible background as a combat athlete, strength and conditioning coach and leader of high performance teams, with extensive experience in athletics. But over the last 15 years or so John has thought deeply about the principles with which we work, especially a

We’ve had a little break from the podcast and now I’m delighted to say we’re back and have got lots of great interviews coming up. New episodes are uploaded on 29th June. Don't forget to subscribe on your podcast platform or Youtube   So what’s changed since we were away, well we haven’t changed things around too much. We’re still exploring all aspects of human performance, whether that is getting stronger, fitter, mentally more prepared, eating better, playing better - but also how we perform in work, individually and as teams.   I’ll still be speaking to great scientists, practitioners, coaches, athletes, and people outside of sports - but who are interested how we perform as humans. Although I will be looking to add more entrepreneurs into the mix. I think with the world of work shifting and changing in recent years I want to find out more from those people who have set up businesses or are consulting for their own income.    Senior Lecturer in Performance and Innovation - Dr John Kiely all about Periodisa

After 100 episodes over 4 years, I take a chance to reflect on the lessons learned from hosting the Supporting Champions podcast and speaking with some of the world's best performers, coaches, support staff, mainly from sport but also from a range of other performance fields too. I'm joined by my close colleague, friend and initial podcast guest Dr Jamie Pringle to help me reflect.   Episodes mentioned in the podcast Miss Val Kondos Field https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/029-miss-val-on-coaching-a-positive-culture-in-gymnastics/ Mark Webber https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/071-mark-webber-on-racing-in-formula-one/ Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/093-redgrave-and-pinsent-on-their-olympic-partnership/ Katelyn Ohashi https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/030-katelyn-ohashi-on-finding-joy-in-gymnastics/ Mel Marshall https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/067-mel-marshall-on-evolving-coaching/ Alistair Brownlee https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/

A very, very warm welcome to our 100th episode. Woo! A milestone for us having started the podcast just under 4 years ago. I truly hope you have enjoyed all the episodes. If you’ve listened to them all then kudos and thanks for being with us along the way. If you’re new in, then hello and I kind of envy you as there is a back catalogue just waiting for you to tune into. When I look back now only a few sections of the conversations are specific to time, and so the discussions are pretty evergreen. It’s been a pure joy to connect with so many great minds, thinkers, achievers, aspirers, supporters of others - I’m truly humbled and want to thank everyone who has been on the show. I want to say at this point a huge thank you to Rachel who caringly curates the podcast episodes, Rachel does this with a coach's eye for not only the dialogue but also for the deeper motivations, passions, concerns and insights that people share in the conversations.    Share your thoughts about the podcast in this quick survey  

This week’s guest is one of the most outstanding athletes ever, Mike Powell. Mike has held the long jump world record for the last 30 years, taking the mark from the legendary Bob Beamon - who held it himself for 23  years. The record stands at 8.95 m or in old money 29 feet 4 and a bit inches. When I do keynote speeches, one of my favourite things to do is to measure out Mike’s record just to illustrate some of the extraordinary feats elite athletes are capable of and it never, never fails to amaze me or an audience. Mike broke the record at the Tokyo World Championship in one of the most tumultuous tussles with the equally legendary athlete Carl Lewis, having played second fiddle to Carl for so many years. In the conversation Mike describes in such a colourful and engaging way how he went about pursuing the title, using Carl as a motivator, how he tapped into a coach that could take him to another level, how he harnessed sports psychology long before it was common place. If you can take a look at the yout

This week’s guest is Ben Ryan. Ben coached the England Rugby Sevens team between 2007 and 2013. Ben then took a big leap of faith in taking up the head coach role with the Fijian team, leading them to Olympic gold at the Rio Olympics. In recognition of these achievements the IOC named Fiji as the best male team performance at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and Ben was awarded the Companion of the Order of Fiji, the highest order attainable on the Islands. Ben’s book documenting his journey, Sevens heaven won the Telegraph’s sports book of the year. Ben is a thoughtful, observant coach. He has a level of calm consideration for the environment he is in and the people he interacts with whether they’re a prop or a prime minister, which all manifests itself in an unambiguous focus on how he works, how he leads and how he creates the conditions for others to succeed. This approach makes him one of the most compelling coaches to listen to.  *** Applied Pro Practitioner Courses *** https://www.supportingchampions.co.u

This week’s guest is Laurence Halsted. Laurence is a former Olympic fencer, having competed at the London and Rio Olympics. Laurence retired after the Rio Olympics and is currently Performance Director of Danish Fencing.    Since retiring as an athlete Laurence has been supporting athletes in a bold new way to support the whole athlete, through holistic thinking, mentoring, developing self-awareness, care and mental health. He’s done this work with a company called The True Athlete Project and he has just published a book by the same title which lays out - in a very clear, logical inspirational and practical way.   Notes Laurence explains a little of the fencing rules Performance Director for the Danish fencing team Post Games how do you debrief athletes? How to offset conditions to create change in sport The definition of a ‘true’ athlete ‘The second arrow’ & mentoring Mindfulness as a starting point Links Applied Practitioner Course https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/onlinecourse

Martin Yelling is a former international runner, duathlete and ironman athlete and since retiring has, along with his partner Liz Yelling coached 1000s of athletes, and everyday folks to marathon and endurance achievements. Recently, Martin has set about creating a charitable organisation called Stormbreak. They have a purpose to; “... improve children’s mental health through movement, equipping them with sustainable, transferable skills and coping strategies to thrive during the complex demands of growth into adult life. Martin describes the origins of the idea, the challenge they’re working with and the hopes for what might develop.   If you want to get involved follow Stormbreak https://twitter.com/hellostormbreak https://www.stormbreak.org.uk/   Work experience bootcamp - registration closes 10th Sept https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/kps-course/ Starter Courses - Pre-register Now https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/starter-courses-2/ Applied Pro Practitioner Course - Pre-register Now h

Duff Gibson won the Olympic gold medal in bob skeleton at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. He did so at the age of 39. Duff has an incredible story to tell about trying and trying again, testing himself in several different sports, in the pursuit of finding the one that would suit him and allow him to take a shot at being an olympian. Duff shares that exploration and with it the clear analysis of why he wasn’t suited to certain sports, ranging from physiology to politics. But this isn’t a tale of a plucky loser, picking himself up from each knock back, failure or disappointment. This is a lesson in valuing the experience along the way, experience above detail, journey above destination. Duff has such clarity on this philosophy that he has written a book called the Tao of Sport in which he lays his experiences bare and creates a campaign for us to be more cognisant and skilful in how we create the journey for young athletes in the future. Talking to Duff reminded me of the quote from Confucius We all lead t

Dan Bigham is an athlete of the highest order, principally in the disciplines of individual and team pursuit with multiple national and World cup titles. Recently Dan is taking a pop at Bradley Wiggins’ hour record too. But Dan has achieved this level of performance with a band of brothers who congregated together and plied their collective physical talents with a mindset of simply trying to ‘work performance out’. Dan is an engineer by training and spent numerous years working in motorsports and sports analytics using his big brain and curiosity to ask questions, explore, be willing to go off script in the pursuit of performance. Dan’s recent book Start at the End, tells the story of how he led this team to success using the principles of reverse-engineering. And while you’ll hear Dan get into the technical details of aerodynamics etc, you’ll also hear how this attitude has spilled or you could say has been applied to all aspects of personal and team performance too.   Notes Early introduction to a range o

Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent are as successful a sporting duo as you’ll ever meet. Steve has won 5 gold medals at 5 successive games and is a 9 time world champion, Matt has won 4 Olympic golds and 10 world championships.  They were successful before Britain became good at sport, winning before the UK Olympic system grew sophisticated. But not just the occasional win - sustained and dominant winning. I had the privilege of working with Steve and Matt from 1998, supporting them, along with Tim Foster and James Cracknell to the Sydney Olympics. I can’t tell you how much influence they both had on me as a professional sports scientist and as a person. Their focus, standards, intensity, but also thinking, understanding and at times philosophy was so impressive you couldn’t help but learn from it. You’ll hear that though in this conversation, which was surprising, fun and at times emotional.   Notes Tokyo delays how would they have responded? ‘Just what we wanted’ & ‘Control the controllab