In this article rugby coach and researcher, Jonny McMurtry discusses the importance of connection between athlete and coach taking a deep dive into an approach that is needs based and not just athlete-centred. Firstly, I hope this blog post finds you, your family and friends in good health; this is strange times and new territory for us all and I hope we can follow the advice of health professionals and leaders of our countries to “flatten the curve” and keep our communities safe and well,…
Psychology
The science of behaviour and mind. A collection of content focused on better understanding our players.
In this Masterclass Webinar replay, we are joined by PhD Researcher, Megan Hill from the University of Bath for an in depth discussion on growth and maturation in youth football. Talent development and understanding performance versus potential is a complex topic. The progression from childhood, through adolescence to adulthood is characterised by an individual experiencing growth, maturation, and development. This process is unique to each child, it can be slow and steady or be full of huge growth spurts and challenging injuries. These influences can…
The question this week comes from our PDP Slack Community: “What ideas do you have to work on team building and culture?” Your Turn: Ask PDP Anything Do you have a coaching question that we might be able to help with? We would love to hear from you! Here’s what you can do: 1. Tweet your questions to us @playerdp, or contact us on our Facebook page.2. PDP Members can chat directly with the PDP team to ask questions, share ideas, and support each other on our exclusive…
In this article, resident positive psychology expert Lara Mossman looks at good character through a strengths lens, focussing specifically on two strengths, courage and caution, and looking at how these can be overused or underused in coaching. We often hear calls for good character in our young football players, but what about our coaches? After all, coaches influence their players in a multitude of ways (Lorimer & Jowett, 2014). Viewed positively, they can be great role models for their players and leave a lasting legacy….
In our latest Masterclass Webinar we sit down to discuss the coach/athlete relationship with Keith and David Mayer, authors of Gold Dust: How to Become a More Effective Coach, Quickly. The focus of the conversation is how we build connections with young players, using empathy, understanding, patience and communication. Keith is has over 40 years coaching experience at a number of professional clubs and has worked as an FA Tutor. David is currently completing his UEFA A license and has experience in the USA and…
Barbara L. Fredrickson The Big Idea Until approximately the beginning of the 21st Century, the field of psychology gave little attention to theories, hypotheses, or building models of the form and function of positive emotions (such as joy, interest, contentment, and love). Instead, most all the previous emotion studies have focused on negative emotions (such as fear, anger, or disgust). The big idea of this paper is that there are inherent differences between negative and positive emotions. Because of these differences, there is little sense in…
PDP Lead Researcher James Vaughan poses the question to coaches: are we competing or are we collaborating? In this article, James discusses the concept of ‘water’ and its implications on an individual’s approach to coaching. One of the most important questions you can ask as a coach is: Are we competing or are we collaborating? In fact, it’s one of the most important questions you can ask any group of people intending, attempting or pretending to work together. I’ll admit this is a strange statement…
In this PDP webinar replay, the PDP team host Russell Earnshaw for an interactive conversation on a range of topics around coaching and youth development. Russell is a coach developer who has consulted with The FA, GB Hockey, Google, the Rugby Football League and British Swimming among others. He is the Co-founder of The Magic Academy, a platform that supports coaches. Russell is also a former coach of the England U18 rugby team and a former professional player. In this discussion, PDP Co-founder, Dave Wright…
In this Masterclass Discussion, PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan sits down with Professor Stephen Rollnick, an expert psychologist who has worked for the NHS & in sport. James & Stephen discuss team work and what opportunities sport provides to young people in expressing themselves, solving problems and learning. Stephen Rollnick is Honorary Distinguished Professor in the School of Medicine, Cardiff University. He was a practicing psychologist in the UK National Health Service for 16 years, and then became a teacher and researcher on the subject…
Stephen Rollnick is a pioneer in motivational interviewing and in recent years has been applying his knowledge to sport. In this article, Stephen offers a psychology perspective on the key differences between praise and affirmation with young athletes. “When you’re that young, it doesn’t take a lot to be encouraged, or discouraged . . . they raised my game . . . they saw something in me I didn’t see in myself.” (Sir Ken Robinson, educationalist) In my work as a psychologist and trainer in…
Let’s focus on how we’re coaching, not what we’re coaching. In this article, motivational researcher and top rugby coach, Jonny McMurtry shares an article on the value of relationships and connection in coaching. After an excellent article written around Matt Wilkie, IRFU’s head of coach development coinciding with my own personal development in assisting swimming coaches, a sport where I know very little around the tactical and technical aspects, it pushed me down a rabbit hole looking at how we can adjust our focus to…
In this Masterclass Discussion, PDP Editor, Dave Wright is joined by Gordon MacLelland, the Founder of Working with Parents in Sport. Gordon and Dave dive into a discussion which includes practical advice for parents on how to support their children in sport, how clubs can better engage with parents, how to manage the car ride home and much more. Gordon has vast coaching and teaching experience and this discussion is essential viewing for coaches and clubs looking to better understand parental influence in youth sport….
In this Masterclass Discussion Dave Wright sits down with motivational researcher and rugby coach, Jonny McMurtry. Jonny discusses his research into motivation and participation in youth sport. Jonny and Dave cover a number of topics including athlete motivation, autonomy supportive environments, talent identification and coach behaviour. This is another fascinating discussion around psychology and youth development not to be missed. Show Notes 0:00 – 2:00: Introduction and upcoming Rugby World Cup predictions 2:00 – 5:35: Background in Rugby and coaching 5:35 – 8:04: Why player…
What motivates young people to play sport? Why do some players like Zlatan Ibrahimović and Yannick Bolasie play the way they do? In this Masterclass Discussion, Dan Wright sits down with PDP Lead Researcher James Vaughan to discuss some of the complexities of player motivation. James has been studying motivation in football and shares some of his research to help football coaches working in the the youth development space. Big topics like Self Determination Theory, intrinsic motivation and social-cultural influences are discussed. Image Source: Pexels
Communication is a crucial element of effective coaching. In this article, Professor Stephen Rollnick challenges traditional methods of coach communication and offers some practical solutions for coaches to improve player relationships. I went on this 4-year journey through sport to get a feel for how people communicate. Giving feedback and advice to players sprang out at me from all corners of football. From having a quiet word, to looking at technical data, conducting player reviews, having heated exchanges in the dressing room and beyond, I…
How can you make your environment as positive as possible? In this Masterclass Discussion, Positive Psychology expert, Lara Mossman joins PDP Editor, Dave Wright for an in-depth discussion on positive psychology in coaching. Lara is one of Player Development Project’s founding contributors and is a world-class expert in the area of positive psychology in coaching. Dave and Lara tackle some common misconceptions around psychology, discuss what positive psychology is and how coaches can apply it. The conversation also covers what an autonomy supportive environment actually…
Jack Martin and David Cox The Big Idea It is rare in conventional social psychological research on sport to consider public testimony as a source of truths. And yet, this is exactly what this study does. These authors pursue what they call a “portrait of possibility.” The subject—the only subject—is the early life of one heck of a basketball player: the Canadian Steve Nash (b. 1974) who played 18 years in the NBA (National Basketball Association), nearly half of those years an NBA All-Star and…
Cameron Knowles has been part of the Portland Timbers organisation for well over a decade. Following a 7 year professional playing career at Real Salt Lake, the Timbers and Montreal Impact, Cameron made the move into coaching where he worked as an Assistant Coach with the first team for five years. The holder of a Masters in Psychology & now into his second season as Head Coach of Portland Timbers T2, Cameron joins PDP Editor, Dave Wright for a conversation on his journey through the…