10: Coaching in Sport

The final episode of Season 2 of The Coaching Psychology Pod is split into two parts. Host Dr Natalie Lancer discusses coaching in sport with Dr. Angela Mouton, Dr. Matt Dubin and Ben Davies. In Part 1 Angela and Matt delve into their interest in coaching, the role of positive psychology, and their research, exploring the concept of 'flow' and its impact on peak performance. In Part 2, Ben elaborates on Prof. Steve Peters’ Chimp Model, providing insight into how the mind works so that athletes and all human beings can better overcome the issues and challenges we face, in order to improve our experience of life and our day to day interactions. We explore:

• What is the role of positive psychology in coaching for peak performance?
• What is the Chimp Model and how can it be used?
• Why is flow important for athletes, in daily life, the workplace and other non-sporting contexts?
• How can you coach towards creating the optimum conditions for flow?
• What are the strongest predictors of peak performance in sport?
• How can you work with both athletes and coaches to achieve the best results?
• How does coaching the ‘whole person’ lead to better performance on the field or court?
• What are the main barriers people have when trying to find their zone of peak performance?
• How can coaching psychologists help people work out what is in their control, and to work with and stick to their strategies?
• What can enhance or derail someone’s sporting experience?
• How can we develop a personalised plan to handle the unexpected?

The panellists share their research on attention control, the importance of focusing on one task at a time and the balance between challenge and skill in achieving flow. They also discuss areas of future research. Furthermore, they examine the usefulness of applying sporting analogies in non-sporting contexts including business, the army and the NHS. Our guests today are:

Dr Angela Mouton specialises in strategic human capital, including Organisational Development, Management Consulting and Executive Search and Assessment. She focuses on peak performance, driving business results, goal setting and prioritisation, leadership, and organisational design and effectiveness. She spent a decade practicing Law at multinational firms, and then moved into Management Consulting in 2010. She was a Positive Organisational Psychology doctoral student of Dr Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi at Claremont Graduate University and publishes her research on hope and flow in peer reviewed journals.

Dr Matt Dubin is an Organisational Psychologist and a Culture and Leadership Development expert who uses the concept of flow to facilitate the development and transformation of people and business. Matt holds certifications to administer the MBTI, EQ-I 2.0, Korn Ferry 360, Gallup Clifton Strengths, DiSC, and the TKI conflict modes assessment. Matt was a Positive Developmental Psychology and Organisational Behaviour doctoral student of Dr Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi at Claremont Graduate University focusing on cultivating flow in the workplace. He was awarded the inaugural Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Dissertation Award.

Ben Davies is a Chartered Psychologist and researc