Supporting Champions

Sue Backhouse, Professor of psychology and nutrition at Leeds Beckett University is this week's guest. Sue is an expert in the complexity around two huge areas – eating and cheating. Everyone’s a nutritionist these days, everyone’s a psychologist and everyone has an opinion on the issue of doping. Three emotive, convoluted and noisy areas for Sue to tackle. What Sue’s research does is something quite unique, particularly so compared with a lot of reductionist studies that pare back all confounding variables to a level of control almost sterility. Of course, you need that level of meticulous control for some research but often important areas get neglected by researchers because they’re too messy. Equally what Sue is able to do is see through the clatter, the jumble and offer illuminating yet grounded findings and advice. We explore the hows and whys of influencing athletes to adopt certain dietary practices and how underpinning motivation and behaviour are essential for change. Then we get into a rich discu

This year we have the Olympic games – the World’s biggest sporting event. But in quick succession is the Paralympics, now the third largest sporting event. Some quip that the Olympics is the warm-up or the test event for the Paralympics. Well this week’s guest is one of the greatest stalwarts and servant of the Paralympics, my good friend and close colleague Nik Diaper. It’s difficult to overstate the impact that Nik has had on the domain of disabled sport, from the days when frankly very few people were interested, through to it becoming not only respected, but revered. In this interview I discuss with Nik what drew him to parasport, what resonated with him and what has endured. Nik shares his perspectives on why disability sport has caught the imagination of sports fans, general public and global audiences alike. He shares his search for meaning amongst some of life’s broader questions and why what he does can add value to society. Now I cycle most weekends with Nik and he is a quality athlete, which I

This week’s guest is business consultant James Glover. James is a world champion white-water rafter, former performance lifestyle practitioner and head of support for the sport of triathlon in Britain. In these sporting support roles James began to explore and research some deeper concepts of human performance and found himself drawing upon some emerging and quite powerful principles being applied to business people around the world in the area of well-being, sustaining our energy and achieving greater productivity and human vibrancy. In this episode we explore his early experiences, a supportive family home, how he felt so disconnected through his university education, becoming world champion, making the transition to working in elite sport and then sensing an opportunity to take the step to the business world and the key lessons he has learnt from both arenas.   Show notes How are you feeling?…the vulnerability behind the question James’ background The predictability of career path is a turn off Taki

Welcome to episode 50, a mini milestone for us and not long ago we've ticked over 50,000 downloads so thank you to all for tuning in and sharing what you've learnt from each episode - it encourages to keep producing more content for you. While we've hit some mini milestones, this week's guests has been part of some projects that have grown to become phenomenally successful. Tom Williams is Parkrun's Global Chief Operating Officer the incredible successful charity that provides free timed 5km runs for people around the world. At the time of recording Parkrun has had 60 million interactions of participants or volunteers with an average of 200 people in each event each week, supporting people to run over 200 million kms in total. Tom shares with us the spirit, culture and ethos of inspiring people to exercise through Parkruns.  Tom is also co-host of Marathon Talk with Martin Yelling, the incredibly successful podcast that has just had it's 500th episode - a feat of stamina in itself. It was fascinating to he

Jason Laird has worked in Premiership football, ballet, judo and now gymnastics and as such is one of the most experienced physiotherapists in the UK. What I have always admired about Jason is his ability to get to the crux of a matter and begin to explore it, develop solutions and adapt. In this interview you’ll hear about Jason’s early passion for physiotherapy, we talk about doing the hard yards of professional experience, helping aspiring physios learn from his experience and mistakes, but above all what came through was a concept that so often gets overlooked  - the value he puts on working with people.   Show notes: How and why did Jason choose to get into physiotherapy? Routes into physiotherapy Making mistakes, trialling, working creatively and learning Broad general physiotherapy practice to Chelsea football academy, how did that happen? Juggling roles, different environments and energy levels Working in the Royal Ballet, thinking differently, asking ‘stupid’ questions and being open to not

Dave Smith, Paralympic champion shares his emotional story intertwining sporting pursuit and cancer survival. This interview is a deep one, it’s a full existential exploration of what is important, how and what we pursue and the focus on what really matters in our lives. I had the truly humbling, moving and inspirational experience of speaking to Dave Smith to tell his utterly remarkable story of sporting endeavour, fighting cancer and choosing to live life. Show notes: Living with purpose, the benefits and negatives of social media and the way in which the world can rapidly change External and internal effects of spinal tumour Reaching out for help Regaining control better sleep, better nutrition, better exercise, reconnecting with passions and support of friends and mentors Dave’s story form the beginning Foot deformity from birth Tumour symptoms from 17 Overtraining and pushing too hard Bobsleigh challenge Classifying for Paralympic sport 2009 joining a supported rowing programme Rowing suppor

Performance psychologist Dr Josie Perry is this episode's guest. Josie has a successful consultancy service supporting endurance athletes, golfers tennis players, but she also has a rich background in communications. Originally a journalist, director of communications and public relations. Josie converted to psychology but what was fascinating about this interview was about the fusion of the two subjects of psychology and with that human behaviour, influencing and development, with the principles of communication and with that human behaviour, influencing and development. I caught up with Josie just a few days after the launch of her book Performing under pressure, which we also dive into. Show notes Background and journey to sport psychology, Monica Lewinsky, a PhD and working within communication When delivering information, who is your audience? How to frame a difficult conversation in a way that works for the other person. Bridging from being a journalist on CBS new to being a sport psychologist Hav

Dawn Scott, High Performance Coach to the USA women’s national football team, who happen to have won two successive World cup titles and Olympic gold in 2012, is this episode's guest. In this interview you’ll hear about Dawn’s journey from her early days grafting away with women’s football, taking a lead role at the English FA and then taking the leap to working with the US team. Critically you’ll hear how it has been for Dawn under the spotlight of supporting the team under the big moments of the numerous finals the team have competed in. You’ll also hear about how it has felt growing with a sport that has emerged from obscurity to global prominence The conversation was rich with insight about the pivotal moments when it all felt really fragile, when results and the outcome have felt like they’ve hung over everything, the team’s future, the coaching staff’s future and with that the prospects of the game.   Show notes Dawn Scott background, education and route into Sport Science World Cup win with the U

Nick Grantham, performance enhancement specialist and consultant, is this week's guest. Nick and I go way back to the mid 1990s and have worked alongside each other in the sphere of sports performance. Nick has worked with a range of elite teams, netball, gymnastics, basketball, premiership football, downhill mountain biking to name a few. Nick is also a leading light in taking an active role in developing content and advice for aspiring professionals and we’ve been increasingly aware that we share this as a motivation and a driver. So it was a great conversation, where we found there was some real overlap in our thoughts and perspectives, but as expected when I speak to Nick I find my thoughts and perspectives developed even further. Show notes: Nick’s background, education, short lived rubbish career in banking, night school and university. Early career in Sport Science and the small community of like-minded people delivering applied work in the field. Having experienced a career in banking it gave Nick

Neil Chugani was a coxswain and a good one too. He coxed the Oxford crew to success in the boat race in 1991, he was World Champion in the coxed pairs in 2001, where I met Neil for the first time as Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell went for the double, double, both the coxed pairs followed by coxless pairs world championship finals in the space of two hours – a story I feature in my book How to Support a Champion. Neil shares the insight behind successfully leading, coaching, supporting a crew from within a boat and offers some perceptive advice about the dynamics that he had to manage in a unique role where he is in it, he is involved but not pulling on an oar. Neil has also held a number of prominent leadership positions, at BBC, Sky Broadcasting, a board member of UK Sport, interim CEO of British Rowing, Steward at Henley Royal Regatta and currently Chief Financial officer for Google in Europe Middle East and Africa. So what Neil hasn’t experienced about leadership in sports and business is probably not

Emma Hatton star of the West End talks about her career, Emma has starred in some of the biggest musicals and lead roles, Scaramouche in We will Rock You, Elphaba in Wicked, Eva Peron in Evita and recently Grizabella in Cats. We discuss Emma’s origins as an athlete, the pull of performing on stage, the art form that Emma performs and how she does that, the persistence and knock backs, sustaining performance from a physical and mental perspective. I got in touch with Emma because I had an inkling that this world is extremely demanding and that Emma would be able to articulate that and I have to admit I found this interview utterly fascinating as Emma gave such rich insights into how she performs.   Show notes: Emma’s origins as a long jumper, following her passion to study sport Not sure what next, take a year out to do something interesting and fun – London School of Musical Theatre The cost on personal relationships for Emma when aspiring for success in her career Honouring Emma’s previous marriage by

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is triple World champion, Olympic champion, European Champion and British record holder in the heptathlon and World indoor champion in pentathlon. Perhaps more significantly Jess is an icon of British sport and global track and field athletics – as much for carrying the weight of expectations of a nation at the London Olympics in 2012. To give you an example a 4000m2 portrait of Jess was painted beside the Heathrow airport runway emblazoned with the message, welcome to our turf, that was the message that greeted every athlete, coach, official, reporter and spectator to the London Olympics Now I had the privilege of working with Jess from her Junior days all the way to her retirement and still work with her now, but this conversation was a chance to look back on the entirety of her career and recap, reflect and in some cases help each other remember aspects of the journey. So it was great to take a chance to take stock with Jess but it was equally a dose of what also makes jess uniquely

This week’s guest is Dr Hannah Critchlow, cellular and molecular neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge. Hannah has recently released her new book the ‘science of fate’, exploring whether our genetic code determines our path or instead whether our genetic code acts as a start point from which we get to choose who we become. I grabbed 15 mins with Hannah between sessions at the Cheltenham Science Festival and we had interesting conversation that covered a lot, explored some interesting concepts, but in many ways hinted to a pivotal moment in time where the study of genetics is at a delicate cross-roads about how our new found understanding of the area is applied for the future of the human race. Show notes The concept of free will and what neuroscience tells us about how we’re formed New understanding of neuroscience and genetics asking us fundamental questions about who we are  Neuroscience of resilience and the role of BDNF – Brain derived neurotrophic factor – helping nerve cells to flourish  Ch

Matt Dixon is a professional triathlon coach and founder of Purplepatch fitness. Matt is former professional triathlete and elite swimmer, now coach and has set up a highly successful performance training and coaching support business. Purple patch has a roster of numerous world class triathletes that Matt and his team of coaches have supported to hundreds of ironman and half ironman victories. But they also have a slogan of 'Performance Training for Time-Starved People' which is fascinating as a growing group of their clientele are executives searching for an outlet and a health and performance goal but clearly having to manage work, life and their sporting endeavours. Thanks to Andy Blow from Precision Hydration for putting me in touch with Matt. I caught up with Matt at his family home when I was speaking over in the US. Triathletes - performance driven people The intellectual challenge of triathlon How to do a triathlon poorly! The value of failing Work ethic Not allowed bottles on the pool deck… 

Joining us this week on the Supporting Champions podcast is Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport (EIS), Dr. Emma Ross. I first met Emma at a scientific conference in 2009 and she blew me away with her ability to communicate and translate complex ideas and concepts. A few years later I appointed Emma as Head of Physiology at the EIS and after moving on from the system in 2016, I have kept a close eye on how people and schemes of work progress, develop and grow. This is exactly what Emma has done, particularly in her work on an essential project around the female athlete. In this conversation you will hear about several concepts around the female athlete and obvious discussions around things such as the menstrual cycles, taboo, equality, ethics and positive/negative behaviours that can enrich or erode cultures in different directions. Inevitably we discussed some potential implications and applications of support both inside and outside of sport. Show notes Steve and Emma begin by exploring Em

In this week’s episode I am joined by Dr. Tom Waller (Senior Vice President Whitespace, Innovation and R&D at lululemon athletica). After completing his PhD at Loughborough University in sports technologies, where I first met Tom, he went on to work at Progressive Sports Technologies and onto Speedo as Head of Aqualab at a time where skinsuits were at their peak at having an impact on world record swimming times. Now at lululemon athletica, Tom heads up a team of innovators and experts inventing their products. Tom shares his philosophies on innovation, how critical it is to engage with user needs, the importance of lateral thinking and what the future might bring with the science of feel. Show Notes Steve and Tom begin by discussing the origins of lululemon’s name before delving into Tom’s background and his journey with Progressive Sports Technologies, Speedo and lululemon. Steve enquiries about Tom’s experiences of being mentored by Professor Mike Caine throughout his PhD at Loughborough University.

Nick Matthew is three-time British and three-time World squash champion, as well as being two-time Commonwealth champion and former world number one. In this discussion we explore Nick’s early rise into the sport, particularly the breakthroughs he made through grit and perseverance. We also delve into his insights from finding his ‘super strength’ with the help of Mark Bawden and how he could apply them against his opponents. From the discussion you will also get a sense of the importance of Nick’s support team and the gratitude he shows towards them, none more so than his wife Esme. Show Notes Nick and Steve meet down at Hallamshire Squash Club in Sheffield and begin by discussing his squash academy and post-career squash training and competition levels. The conversation moves onto the preparation required to meet the demands of elite level squash.  Nick wishes he was able to identify and develop ‘super strengths’ earlier on his career. In 2008, whilst overcoming injury and working with sport psychologist

This week we are joined by Gareth Sandford, exercise physiologist at the Canadian Sports Institute. Gareth is just starting his post-doctoral studies and so in many ways you could say he is at the beginning of his career, having just wrapped up his PhD in New Zealand, but he certainly has some incredible insights to share! Yes, this story is one of studying hard, but the reason why I wanted to talk to Gareth was due to his ability to demonstrate enormous persistence in finding opportunities, creating buy-in and taking leaps of faith. Interestingly, his PhD project has allowed him to carve out a niche in high performance after travelling around the world to work with some of the world’s best running coaches and athletes.   Show Notes Gareth begins by discussing the early experiences he had in carving out placement opportunities, internships and highlights the importance of persistence, mentoring, curiosity and realising the current state of the sport science job market.  Gareth shares the lessons learnt fr

Trent Stellingwerff, sports nutritionist is this week's guest. Trent and Steve first met as coaches in Valencia at the 2008 World Indoor Championships and he has since had a glittering career in the sport and exercise sciences. Trent now currently works at the Canadian Sports Institute, leading the track and field nutrition support team and is also the institute’s lead for innovation and research. Trent is undoubtedly one of the leading applied performance practitioners in the world, not only for his technical knowledge and skill but also the holistic manner in which he operates.   Steve and Trent begin by exploring their coaching backgrounds and Trent’s relationship with his wife, Hillary, a Canadian track and field middle distance runner. Trent emphasises the importance of variability in one’s life and career. Steve and Trent then explore the generalist vs specialist debate, gaining breadth and depth and how Trent has maintained his specialist knowledge across his career. Trent explores the concept of t

Podcast 034 Show Notes – Performance People In this week’s episode, Steve takes the reins on his own as he shares some perspectives about developing the next generation of performance people. Over the last few years Supporting Champions have been applying the lessons learnt in elite sport into other sports, business and education and one of the areas we keep observing/hearing about is the lack of skilled graduates. People and team development has therefore been a major area of work for us and has been for Steve throughout his time at the British Olympic Association and the English Institute of Sport. A significant shift toward this began post-Beijing, focusing not only developing the performance of athletes but that too of the team behind the team. This podcast will focus on these ideas, distilling advice for people in three key early career phases; during study, transitioning out of university and attempting to land a job and after just securing a role. Show Notes Steve starts by sharing the “Letter to the 1