In search of creativity - A conversation with James Vaughan

James Vaughan is a coach at the AIK Academy in Sweden. He is a colleague of Mark O'Sullivan and Dennis Hortin (both previous podcast guests) and is a regular contributor to the fantastic website 'Player Development Project'. James has a rich background as a coach and as a researcher and has been fortunate to study under the guidance of some of the leading academics in the field of skill acquisition, constraints led coaching and games based coaching.

In this episode we delve into creativity and explore the way that social and cultural constraints influence the way we think, feel and act when trying to lead the development of young people in sport. It is an illuminating and in depth conversation.

In the episode we discuss...

• Why Brazilian culture emphasises skill

• How Barcelona differs from Stockholm in the way they view human development

• Myths about talent and creativity

• How James applies constraints to influence positive, creative action rather than minimising error

Get your notebook ready!!

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"It's only when I got to level 5 that I discovered skill acquisition" - A conversation

Calvin Betton has the life that would be the envy of many. He travels Europe coaching and helping young tennis players to strive to break into the professional ranks. It's a tough life but somebody's got to do it...right? Not necessarily...

In this episode we get an inside picture of the life of a tennis coach working at the cliff edge of the talent space...the key transition zone from promising junior to top level adult. In the episode we cover...

• The big gap in coach education that meant that skill acquisition was only covered at level 5!

• The questions he asked a tennis legend about the advice he was giving to aspiring players to use drills to become better tennis players

• Why people don't understand what good coaching looks like

• How he creates intensity using 'pressure training'

• His innovative method of giving feedback called 'bandwidth feedback'

• His approach to 'challenge point theory' called 'training on the edge'

There is a wealth of insight in here that we were able to benefit from because of a rainstorm in Greece...a brainstorm in the rainstorm (ahem)!!

Enjoy

Listen in the player below or in itunes

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5000+ miles in the search for new coaching knowledge - a conversation with Nick Hill

Nick Hill is probably one of the most committed coaches to his personal development that I have ever met. His quest for continuous improvement has taken him to all corners of the globe from Australia, to New Zealand to Chile and the US.

If coaching expertise was measured in air miles then this guy has to be in the premier league!

Nick's career has seen him working in talent environments for most of his career and his dedication to his craft really shines through in this episode.

In this conversation we discuss...

• How being coached by Brian Ashton while representing England U19s was a turning point in his career. Driving him to become a coach and do it better than he had done before.

• His journey from being a drill based, instructional coach to a player centred, facilitation style coach and why this has made him choose a more game based approach.

• How he overcame the language barrier while working in Chile by tapping into the 'language of rugby'

• His methods for getting buy in and developing goals with groups of players

• How he allows techniques to develop by being patient and using clever practice design.

• The challenges of introducing a new set of players to his approach and how he overcomes negative responses.

As always, listen in the player below or subscribe in itunes here

Happy listening

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