Sport Psychology: Coaching and Training

Gary and Nathan record an episode "in the wild" while watching the NY Rangers and the LA Kings go at each other again with playoff consequences on the line toward the end of the NHL regular season. Gary talks with Nathan about what has made the LA Kings a clutch team since Darryl Sutter became coach and why the NY Rangers have so much trouble with them. They discuss the psychological dimension of competition.

They consider things that coaches can do in training and education to prepare athletes for their momentary beliefs of what they can do and their momentary expectations about what they can do against an opponent. They talked about Darryl Sutter as well as coaches from other sports and other times such as John Wooden with UCLA basketball and Phil Jackson in the NBA.

Gary asked Nathan about his experience as a Sport Psychologist and ways in which issues and interventions generalize across different domains. Nathan talked about how his knowledge about psychology of sports performance applied to work he did with a musician who was concerned about her creativity. He also gave talked about the opportunity for creativity in the "triangle offense" and the implications for individuality within a team mindset. They touched on the ways in which creativity can manifest in offense and defense in basketball and the way it influences the psychological dimension on the court.

The conversation transitioned into the relationship between leadership and training. Nathan and Gary touched on several issues that they will discuss in greater depth in future episodes of Science to Business. They talked about the role of science in coming to understand training, leadership, and human performance outside the laboratory.

Listen to other episodes about Sport & Exercise

Listen to episodes from the first season, entitled "Science in the Wild."