My posts…

Just to give a flavour of what I intend to share on this blog, I hope to write about a wide berth of topics along my coaching journey. From teams to twitter and books to badges, I'd love to cover it. I have notes, journals, books, pictures and thoughts. Whether it's something I've read, said …

Brendan Rodgers – Reading Academy (2001)

      A superb document of coaching tips and information on Reading FC's Academy structure, written by current Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers at the turn of the century while in the role of Assistant Academy Director. Click here to download (Word Document: B. Rodgers - Coaching Tips - Reading FC Academy)       …

S-T-E-P-S | Achieving more positive outcomes in PE Lessons and Coaching Sessions

We've all been there. Your well-planned session that looked great on paper is not quite giving you what you had hoped for or expected. The passing combinations might be neat and tidy but the session just lacks a real spark. It's not a bad session, though. In fact, it's good, but not GREAT. If you've …

What’s the point, Miss? – Curriculum in Scotland.

Click here for Reference List SUMMARY: This 2,000 word-long post was first written as part of my PGDE (Primary Education) course at Strathclyde University, in response to the question: "What understandings of the purposes of education are evident in the Scottish Curriculum? Publicly funded state education serves a number of purposes for society and for …

Formative Assessment: Implications for Teaching and Coaching

Assessment, and the way it is undertaken, is a widely-debated a topic of interest within Scottish education, with plans in place to introduce standardised testing in literacy and numeracy for primary school children (BBC, 2016; Scottish Government, 2016). While this piece focusses more schools, assessment – in various forms – has also been recently debated …

Not all Heroes wear CAPES… but a Super-Coach might

A basic Framework for Session Evaluation Whenever I have conversations with other coaches, the themes of reflection and continued development regularly are regularly discussed. Detailed below is a relatively simple framework for assessing any coaching session. This can be done through a process of self-reflection, or undertaken by another individual who is observing a session. …

Self-Talk and Sprint Performance in Youth Footballers – The Paper

It is with great pride that I am finally able to share this. My university dissertation/research project. After many long hours, which I actually - despite hearing all kinds of horror stories beforehand - really enjoyed. The topic proved exciting and stimulating as it progressed from an initial seed of an idea to this full-blown body of work. …

Mira Novak Interview

Mira, thank you for your time and agreeing to do this interview. Can you start off with an introduction of yourself?   MN: Chris, first of all let me thank you for your fantastic efforts with your blog and inviting me for the interview. It is quite refreshing to read some of your ideas, and …

Performances and Purse Strings – Should We Fund Elite Sport?

A couple of university assignments put together here... due to a limited word count I was unable to expand on certain points quite as much as I would have liked to. The first focusses on providing a definition of Policy for a reference book, while the second addresses the question of whether elite sport should …

Self-Talk and Sprint Performance in Youth Footballers – Full Research Proposal

As a 4th year Sports Studies student at Stirling University, I am currently undertaking my undergraduate research project/dissertation. My study is in the area of self-talk in sports psychology, with a focus on sprint times of youth footballers. Click here to access the article on my recent presentation, and click here to download the full research proposal word …

Research Proposal Presentation – Self-Talk and Sprint Performance in Youth Footballers

Self-Talk and Sprint Performance in Youth Footballers Follow the link below to download a copy of my presentation as delivered for part of my university dissertation research project proposal at the University of Stirling - BA (Hons) Sports Studies. The full written proposal will be uploaded early next week (wb Monday 23/11/15). See the bottom …