high performance

In this Masterclass Webinar replay, we’re joined by Head Coach of Portland Timbers T2 team, Cameron Knowles for a conversation on High Performance Coaching. Cameron is a former professional player who had a career in the USA with Real Salt Lake, Portland Timbers and Montreal Impact. He holds the US Pro License, a Masters in Psychology and was an Assistant Coach of the MLS Title Winning Portland Timbers staff in 2015 before taking up the role of Head Coach of the club’s T2 team who…

Ken Lynch is a High Performance Athlete Development Consultant at High Performance Sport New Zealand and works with sports people across a range of codes. Originally from Ireland, Ken is an expert in high performance athlete pathways, athlete talent identification and high performance strategy. In this Masterclass Discussion, PDP Editor, Dave Wright hosts Ken for an informative conversation about the role of HPSNZ, talent development pathways, sports science in youth sport and ensuring the athlete sits at the centre of the learning process. A fantastic…

High performance sport is dominated by a common narrative around winning, elitism and competition. Co-founder of myfastestmile & top coach developer, Mark Upton shares an excellent article on how this narrative reflects culture, and what the alternatives are. “As a team we are committed to taking our game to the next level through hard work and continuous improvement, (we) will continue to drive our elite standards and core values to ensure we are ruthless and competitive in every aspect of our preparation and performance.” The…

How can play impact performance? PDP Lead Researcher & International Futsal player, James Vaughan examines how important play is when it comes to finding solutions in a high performance setting. Last month New Zealand played against the Solomon Islands in the FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers in Fiji. Tied at the top of the table this game was the tournament decider, the game that determined Oceania’s representative for the upcoming World Cup in Colombia. Four years of preparation and sacrifice on the line during 40…

Building on the expert insight of University of Queensland’s Professor of Sport Psychology & Coaching Cliff Mallett, this update drills into the Key Characteristics of The Worlds Best Coaches. Like any decent update this post aims to provide a deeper user experience, particularly focusing on the process of knowing ourselves: Or in other words the process of hacking, updating and refining our operating system. At some point we all need to update our software, but its often niggly and almost always annoying. In the long run it (normally) makes life…

What characteristics do the world’s best coaches have in common? PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan shares insight from a study at the University of Queensland on the key attributes required to be the most effective coach. Last Friday, I was lucky enough to attend a presentation by Associate professor Cliff Mallett at the University of Queensland. Cliff is actually my academic supervisor, and a bit of a gun. On UQ’s website they describe Cliffs work saying: “This staff member is a UQ Expert in the…

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