In the fourth Slice of PIE of 2024, we get the pleasure of speaking to Dr. Will McConn Palfreyman, Head of Psychology at Scottish Golf, and lecturer in Sport Psychology at the University of Sterling. A chartered sport & exercise psychologist through the British Psychological Society – Will has worked with a number of sporting organisations including sportscotland Institute of Sport, Scottish Golf, Scottish Cycling, the Scottish Rugby Union, Racing Welfare, the National Trainers Federation, the Arsenal F.C. Psychology Network and the Scottish Women’s National Volleyball team.

Will is such an affable and engaging guy – someone I’ve always gravitated to at conferences and enjoyed speaking to. I was really looking forward to this conversation, and it didn’t disappoint – as we traversed the topics of learning and mastery, coaching, and golf’s “psychological fingerprint.”

You can follow Will here:

Social networks:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-will-mcconn-palfreyman-18a54433/?originalSubdomain=uk

Twitter/X: https://x.com/WillMcConn

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drwillmcconn/

Article in The Psychologist

https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/five-inch-course

Documentaries:

Hoop Dreams (film): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tciknLFw8GE

Jerome Betis, A Football Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lODsFL8BJHs

Referenced papers:

Lubker et al. (2008). https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/sphhs_exer_facpubs/240/

Woolway, Chris Harwood (2020): https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Consultant_characteristics_in_sport_psychology_service_provision_a_critical_review_and_future_research_directions/13233998?file=25491536

In the third Slice of PIE of 2024, we get the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Duncan Simpson.

Duncan joined IMG from Barry University in Miami in 2017 - providing mental conditioning services for tennis, golf, and soccer. Originally from England, he received his Ph.D in Sport Psychology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He’s a Certified Consultant with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and has been conducting mental skills training with athletes and coaches since 2005 - from a range of sports and varying in talent and ability from beginners to professional and Olympic athletes.

Most recently, Duncan along with co-host Dr. Greg Young have originated the Performers podcast, dissecting the autobiographical accounts of famous athletes, coaches practitioners and performers – including Dan Carter, Andre Agassi and most recently, Bubba Watson. As of this recording Duncan and Greg have produced 18 fantastic episodes, decoding the tips and tricks of high level performers – using their knowledge of sport psychology theory and practice to connect the dots. The link to the podcast is below, and I would highly recommend listening to it.

In this conversation with Duncan we talk about the podcast, as well as his experience leading a team of mental performance consultants at the IMG Academy, a private school based in Florida, as well as his insights and observations of what makes a psychologically informed environment – along with a few good book recommendation (again linked below).

You can follow Duncan here:

Social networks:
https://x.com/sportpsychdunc?lang=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncan-simpson-ph-d-cmpc-76244b1a


The Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/@PerformersPod?app=desktop

Listen to it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/56cK91sh2F1FzXXmbx1ECt?si=bba76a5f19584b10

A life without limits - Chrissie Wellington
https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-life-without-limits/chrissie-wellington/9781780338712

In the second Slice of PIE of 2024, we get the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Martin Turner.

Martin is a very experienced academic, researcher and practitioner – with specific interests in challenge and threat states in athletes, and the use of REBT with athletes.

On the applied side Martin has worked across football, cricket, rugby, cycling, archery, shooting, and equestrian. He also provides performance psychology to business professionals. He’s the Lead Sport Psychologist for England Futsal and his work with athletes has included seasons at Nottingham Forest FC Academy, Nottingham County Cricket Club Academy, Staffordshire County Cricket Club Academy, and Stoke City Football Academy.

We talk about one of his latest papers on the use of REBT with sales professionals (link below) and broaden the conversation into wider REBT tenets.

You can follow Martin here:

Social networks:
https://twitter.com/DrMJTurner
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-martin-turner-828b766b/

The Books:
1) The Rational Practitioner (2022, the one with the Dragon) https://www.routledge.com/The-Rational-Practitioner-The-Sport-and-Performance-Psychologists-Guide-To-Practicing-Rational-Emotive-Behaviour-Therapy/Turner/p/book/9781032060408

2) REBT in Sport & Exercise (2020) https://www.waterstones.com/book/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-in-sport-and-exercise/martin-turner/richard-bennett/9780367407803


The REBT & Sales paper:
When not making your sales target is "the end of the world" - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smi.3391