Rugby Coach Weekly

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Host Phil Llewellyn with guests review some of the many great podcasts, books, articles and webinars from the last week.
This week's guests: Nick Ward, Altis Programmes Director, Dr Peter Olusoga, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Sports Psychology consultant with a specialism in the psychology of coaching in high-performance coaching environments, and Josh Fletcher, performance coach with Formula 3 and founder of Career Blueprint.

This Week's Content

Nick Ward Tweet Thread – Nick Ward/Josh Fletcher/Peter Olusoga

SUGGESTED CONTENT/WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

• Desperate to Quit: A Narrative Analysis of Burnout and Recovery in High Performance Sports Coaching – Dr Peter Olusoga
• Altis – World Class Sport Performance Education (Coach Education, Mentoring, Resources)
• The Reflective Practitioners Journal – Josh Fletcher
• Career Blueprint – Josh Fletcher
• Disciplinary Power: recognizing some of the forces in coaching - a guest post - Joe Mills & Jim Denison
• Introducing a New Element to Coaching: Power ... a guest-post – Joe Mills and Jim Dennison
• Beginning to Coach with Power in Mind - a guest post - Joe Mills and Jim Dennison

Anyone wishing to attend the ALTIS Beta trial of their mentoring programme, please feel free to contact Nick Ward via his social media channels (mentioned in the pod) or vie email at [email protected]

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly
Also, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

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In this episode, Dan chats with Sean Lindersmith. They discuss how he created a coaches’ coffee club, and how he made it a genuine place to learn and support each other.

Sean is the Vice President of Operations at Premier Rugby Sevens and Silicon Valley Rugby - defence and forwards coach.

His past roles include University of MN Head Coach, US Coast Guard Sevens Head Coach, St Augustine High School Head Coach, MN Youth Rugby Youth and HS Director and USA Eagle’s National Team Manager (Men’s)

In the podcast, we cover

• Establishing the Coaches’ Coffee Club
• Mentorship and sharing initiative
• Practising vulnerability in coaching
• Coaching, trust, and celebration
• Creating supportive team dynamics
• Embracing change in coaching
• Coffee club vulnerability and connection
• Key concepts in coaching community

You can contact him on

LinkedIn: @SeanLindersmith

IG/X: @Snackattk

TikTok: @CoachSnackattk

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly
Also, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

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Ralph Knibbs, Head of Human Resources at UK Athletics and a Bristol rugby legend, chats with Samba Ceesay, Broad Plain RFC’s captain.

In an extraordinary podcast, Ralph first describes his journey as a black player from a non-traditional rugby background, why he turned down playing for England twice and how his children made him more self-aware about being a role model.

He then asks Samba about his journey. Coming to rugby late, Samba talks about how Broad Plain stood up for him, allowed him to become a better player, and what led him to lead the club.

As the podcast unfolds, you will hear how Ralph helps Samba acknowledge his crucial role in giving others the confidence to follow their ambitions.

They reflect on the challenges faced by black players, both professional and amateur, but also the development of leadership skills, camaraderie, and a sense of family and belonging.

Listen to find out how two humble sportsmen, who love their sport, want to make rugby a more inclusive and diverse environment.
Click here to find out more about the Star Scheme
Click here to find out more about the Rugby Black List

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly
Also, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

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Dan chats to Kevin Mulcahey about his experiences coaching both novices and experts and how you need to change to meet their needs.
Kevin coaches Gaelic football and hurling, Ireland's national sports as an assistant or head coach at all ages and levels. He has also worked in multiple roles on three continents as a coach of various stripes like assistant coach, S&C coach and performance coach in Aussie Rules, basketball, soccer, rugby, tennis, volleyball, hockey and in numerous other 1-2-1 roles over 28 years.

He also runs Designing the Game on Facebook where he challenges coaches to think about their approaches to coaching. His main role is an owner-operator S&C and sports performance coach at TMC Performance Coaching. You can catch Kevin @movementcoachkm on Twitter where he is active and responds to DM’s.

In the podcast, they discuss the following:

• How much does your team coaching approach change when you are dealing with experts and novices?
• Using "pivot" players in any sport.
• A principle of play has normally been set by coaching experts from the past, no matter what sport you are in. How much do players need to know about a principle before you start working on it? And how do you introduce it?
• How to use deliberate practice in the right context.
• How long do you let a team or player do something which is clear to you that is inefficient, and despite your nudges, they continue to do it?

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly
Also, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

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In this episode of the Rugby Coach Weekly podcast, Dan Cottrell welcomes Jamie Taylor—Assistant Professor of Elite Performance at Dublin City University, Academy Coach with Leicester Tigers, and Senior Coach Developer at Grey Matters UK.

Together, they dive into the practical aspects of coaching, discussing session planning, skill acquisition, and what it truly means to develop coaching expertise.

Jamie challenges conventional ideas on coaching theory, explaining the importance of understanding "why" we coach the way we do and how we can design better learning experiences for players.

Whether you're a grassroots coach or working at the elite level, this conversation will make you think more deeply about your coaching intentions and the impact you have on your players.

• Understanding coaching expertise: Why coaching is more than just following a template.
• The importance of coaching intentions: Moving beyond "what" we coach to "why" we coach it.
• Session planning insights: How to design training sessions that truly develop players.
• Exploration vs. exploitation in skill acquisition: When to encourage players to try new things vs. refining existing skills.
• How coaches can improve: The role of reflection, questioning, and learning from mistakes.
• Theoretical perspectives on coaching: A look at cognitive, ecological dynamics, and predictive processing approaches.
• Measuring progress in coaching: How to assess whether training methods are effective.
• Understanding how session design affects player development.
• Common coaching misconceptions: Why making training look good doesn’t always mean it’s effective.
• Jamie’s personal coaching evolution: Lessons learned from years in coaching and academia.

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly
Also, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!