Podcast

I have been Guest Hosting the #DeepDive podcast for Rugby Coach Weekly which is a series of long-form interviews with various Players, Coaches, Academics and characters around the game. Here is a list of the podcasts and there is a summary of each at the bottom of the page. A huge thank you to Dan Cottrell for giving me the opportunity to publish these via Rugby Coach Weekly, I have loved the process.

Paul Hodgson – former England 9, Pro-team coach and now a Director of Sport at Cranmore School

Apple – https://apple.co/2zpQ0fg

Android – http://bit.ly/PaulHodgsonPod

Tom Farrow – Former Head of Strength and Conditioning for England 7s and owner of Areté Performance – www.arete-performance.com

Apple – https://bit.ly/TomFarrow

Android – https://bit.ly/AndroidFarrow

Andre Quinn – Head of Athletic Performance at Cavan GAA. He was previously a strength and conditioning coach at London Irish and Sport Scientist at Harlequins

Apple – https://apple.co/2YSjFry

Android – https://bit.ly/AndreQuinnGooglePod

Mark Williams – interim Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach for Basketball England, a Lecturer in Sports Science and former Head of S&C for GB Basketball & Southend United FC

Apple – https://apple.co/3kcN3kR

Android – https://bit.ly/MarkWilliamsPodcast

Johnny O’Connor – Strength and Conditioning Coach with Connacht Rugby. He previously played for the province as well as Wasps and Ireland

Apple – https://apple.co/3jJfBRI

Android – https://bit.ly/JohnnyOCPod

Jamie Taylor – former head of Academy at Leicester Tigers and now working with Grey Matters as a Senior Coach Developer and the English Institute of Sport as the coaching and curriculum lead. He is a Coach, Coach Developer and Researcher in Coaching Science with a particular focus on Talent Development

Apple – https://bit.ly/JamieTaylorApplePod

Android – https://bit.ly/JamieTaylorPod

Jamie Taylor Part II – an even deeper dive into teaching, learning and decision making

Apple – https://bit.ly/JamieTaylorApple2

Android – https://bit.ly/JamieTaylorPod2

 

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Paul Hodgson – former England 9, Pro-team coach and now a Director of Sport at Cranmore School

In this podcast, Paul shares stories and experiences from his playing, coaching and teaching careers. We chat about:

• Paul’s lessons from pro-sport that he now uses to develop young players
• Formative experiences at Bristol with Jack Rowell, Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi
• Lessons on work ethic and building a fitness base from Mike Catt and Jonny Wilkinson
• The importance of good communication and relationships with players, especially around selection
• Working with the elemental force that is Brendan Venter

Tom Farrow – Former Head of Strength and Conditioning for England 7s and owner of Areté Performance

• Lessons from 7’s for all rugby players.
• What young players should focus on in order to make the leap to being a professional player.
• The PLAY (Physically Literate Athletic Youths) and Freedom frameworks Arete uses with young players.
• Tom’s varied and chaotic path to coaching at the elite level and his immersive approach to personal development.
• The story behind Tom’s mission to cultivate heroes and the influence of Eastern philosophy on his approach.
• What Comedians can teach coaches.
• The importance of body control in contact skills and what it means to “Be like water”

Andre Quinn – Head of Athletic Performance at Cavan GAA. He was previously a strength and conditioning coach at London Irish and Sport Scientist at Harlequins

• Where Andre’s curiosity for improving performance came from
• How the day-to-day training in a Premiership club is set up and why
• Training considerations for amateur clubs
• How the team coped unexpectedly well with a huge increase in workload demanded by a new head coach
• Brendan Venter’s approach to motivation and the organisation of training at London Irish Andre’s experiences of dealing with cancer and how he approached his treatment

Mark Williams – interim Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach for Basketball England, a Lecturer in Sports Science and former Head of S&C for GB Basketball & Southend United FC

• Mark’s story from semi-pro rugby player to a professional S&C coach
• Lessons from the Covid lockdown
• The value in focussing on the basics of movement
• The story behind Mark’s PhD and why player autonomy became central to his thinking
• The Paradox of S&C – How can the controlled environment of the gym carry over to the chaos of sport?
• Completing the circle – Marks’ evolution of thinking, from questioning the importance of S&C to the role he now sees it playing in developing players

Johnny O’Connor – Strength and Conditioning Coach with Connacht Rugby. He previously played for the province as well as Wasps and Ireland

• The Paradox of S&C – How can the controlled environment of the gym carry over to the chaos of sport?
• Completing the circle – Marks’ evolution of thinking, from questioning the importance of S&C to the role he now sees it playing in developing players
• His background from playing rugby with Connacht & Ireland to S&C soach as the world’s oldest intern at Arsenal.
• Johnny’s key takeaways from working with coaches such as Liam Hennessy, Craig White and Warren Gatland.
• The three key aspects for developing young players – discipline, work ethic and the ability to accept failure and how important it is to set that standard as the coach.
• The importance of creating connections with players but needing to understand yourself to be able to do that.
• Cultural differences between soccer and rugby.
• The influence of Shane McDonald
• The environment at Wasps in the early 2000’s
• The psychological and emotional toll that builds over a rugby career
• What rugby can learn from football

Jamie Taylor – former head of Academy at Leicester Tigers and now working with Grey Matters as a Senior Coach Developer and the English Institute of Sport as the coaching and curriculum lead. He is a Coach, Coach Developer and Researcher in Coaching Science with a particular focus on Talent Development

Part I: Psycho-behavioural Characteristics of Developing Excellence – the mental traits and states that underpin Talent Development

• Why are they important? Jamie discusses his research showing how a lack of mental skills was a key factor in players who were expected to make it to the top but didn’t
• How PCDEs can be used to evaluate Players’ needs analysis
• Practical Implementation of PCDEs

Part II: Deep Dive on Coach Development

Jamie’s reflections on his early Coaching & Teaching career – the importance of declarative and procedural knowledge

• How his early mentors supported him via challenging him
• The importance of “Why?” in appraising & implementing methods & knowledge
• The value for Coaches in Teacher training
• Developing Professional Judgement & Decision Making as a Coach
• Cognitive Load Theory

William Wayland – a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach and owner of Powering Through Performance Gym

• William’s approach to S&C with his local amateur Rugby team, Chelmsford RFC.
• How he assesses and programs the S&C for the team using the Dynamic Strength Index.
• What a typical week of sessions looks like for one of his players.
• How the Triphasic Approach has helped improve movement competence and strength levels with the team.
• Working around injuries & micro trauma with contact athletes to show players how they can always train and improve.
• The importance of neck training for rugby players in improving contact skills & reducing concussion risk.
• Lessons from training MMA fighters that help when coaching rugby players.
• How he uses the philosophy of the Pragmatic Approach in his coaching to direct his decision making and assess theory and practice.
• A case study of the Pragmatic Approach in action to coach superbike rider Danny Buchan.
• How the OODA loop can assist coaches and athletes to adapt and overcome less than ideal circumstances such as lockdown.

Jamie Taylor Part II – an even deeper dive into teaching, learning and decision making

• Is coaching teaching?
• Can classroom research transfer to sports coaching?
• Which pedagogical principles can help coaches plan and deliver sessions
• Why a coach needs to be much more than an environmental designer
• The role of cognition in learning
• How coaches can use professional judgement and decision making to decide which principles and methods to use and when
• What factors does it depend on when we say “it depends”