When we value how movement helps us grow, we see invitations to move everywhere we look.

In this conversation, I’m bringing two very special people together to share their efforts to change the movement culture inside primary schools in New Zealand.

The first is Celia Fleck. For the past 3 and a half years, Celia has been working on a joint government initiative between Te Whatu Ora, the Ministry of Education, and Sport NZ called Healthy Active Learning. The goal of the initiative is to improve wellbeing outcomes for tamariki with a strong focus on using physical activity, and healthy food and drink as the vehicles to achieve it. Celia leads the recruitment and professional development of a workforce of over 100 people who are carrying out this mahi. Prior to working in the Sport Sector, Celia was a Secondary Health and PE teacher for 19 years, and a Health and PE Curriculum facilitator for 4 years. She has a Bachelor of Physical Education from Otago University.

Joining Celia on the show today is Daniel Cooke. Dan and I have become very good friend over the past 5 years and he found he way through his PhD in movement skill learning inside a primary school in Auckland. Dan is an A-Licence football coach and has worked with players and coaches across three continents in grassroots and professional settings. He is now working with FIFA as a Talent Coach with a mission to give every talent a chance.

We start the conversation discussing why Celia and Dan are so passionate about movement and children.

Enjoy!

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James Leath (@jamesleath) has been coaching student-athletes for over 20 years. He has a master’s degree in performance psychology and has worked with companies like IMG Academy, MINDBODY INC, and Under Armour. He currently works with EXOS Human Performance in the US.

James has a new book out, entitled “Team Building Activities for Athletes: How to master the art of building a successful team culture through intentional activities.” I love the book and wanted to bring James on the pod to tell us all about it.

Click HERE to grab some of James’ awesome activities for free!

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig’s newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

Instagram: instagram.com/drcraigharrison/
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Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

Today I’m stoked to welcome Dr Balin Cupples, head of performance at the One NZ Warriors.

What I love about Balin’s story, and why I brought him on the show, is the insight he brings at the intersection between science and practice.

Balin has a strong academic background, having earned a Bachelor of Education, a Master of Education, and not long ago a PhD from the University of Sydney. But he also grew up playing the game and made a handful of NRL appearances for the Wests Tigers Rugby League Club in his early twenties.

In this conversation, Balin shares his PhD research findings, which investigated what successful talent development environments look like in schools.

Enjoy!

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Connect with Craig:

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This week, I’m excited to be talking with Young People’s Lead at Athletics New Zealand , Fiona Maisey. It’s a relatively new role for the organisation, yet super important considering 82% of registered participants in the sport are under the age of 18. Fiona brings a diverse background to the position, including many years practising as a nurse, parenting 4 boys, and a passion for music. We dig into all of this on the show.

We also talk about Fiona’s efforts to create young people friendly environments, including the importance of finding your tribe, why time is such a valuable resource for building meaningful relationships, retaining teenagers in the sport, avoiding athlete entitlement, what fun really looks  like for young people, learning how to lose, the importance of gratitude, coaching the person, and much more.

I’ve always loved athletics. There’s something about how it tests the fundamentals of human physiology  – speed, power, endurance – that really appeals to me. So I’m really excited to bring Fiona on the show to share with us her thoughts on development and where the sport of athletics is headed in the future.

Enjoy!

Sign up for Craig’s newsletter (Beyond the Game) at athletedevelopmentproject.com/newsletter

Get Craig to speak at your club or school here. 

Connect with Craig:

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Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison

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On the show today, I’m winding the clock back a couple of years to when I sat down with Dr Katie Cunningham to talk about joy.  Dr Katie Cunningham is an Associate Professor of Literacy and English Education at Manhattanville College and the author of “Start With Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness”.

In her book, Katie describes 7 pillars at the heart of joyful literacy experiences – connection, choice, challenge, play, story, discovery and movement. I love how each pillar transfers beautifully to athlete development, and the idea of “starting with joy” continues to have a big impact on my work.

Enjoy!

Connect with Craig:

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Twitter: twitter.com/drcraigharrison