Today's podcast features Kevin Mulcahy. Kevin is an experienced sports and S&C coach and owner-operator of the Design the Game Project. He has worked with various sports teams, athletes, professionals, and clubs across three continents, for over 30 years. Kevin takes a multi-lateral focus on human movement, skill development, and S&C, led by a deep interest in ecological dynamics and the constraints led approach to coaching and motor learning.
Sport and the process of athlete development has undergone a major shift in the last 3-4 decades. Where free play used to be a hallmark of young athletes, the majority of athletic development now happens in the realm of supervised, cognitively overloaded, and hyper-accelerated practices and games. This aspect of sport (and sports performance) does get talked about, but the nuances of how things should actually change from both a developmental aspect are rarely discussed.
On today’s show, Kevin gives his perspective on ideal athlete development from an ecological and environmental point of view. He lays out the difference between the dominant “cognitive” approach to coaching and training, relative to an ecological approach. Kevin also gets into skill development, game-play and the importance of motor learning, and an overall athlete-centered, approach to training. Kevin’s experience crosses many of the traditional lines drawn in athletics, and as such, helps us to form new connections and understand the athlete development process on a deeper level.
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View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.
Main Points
3:44- Kevin’s Evolution of Movement and Strength Coaching
10:32- Gaelic Football's Impact on Soccer Development
13:45- Nurturing Creativity in Gaelic Games Athletes
29:45- Balanced Development Through a Free Play Approach
33:16- Small-Sided Games for Tactical Coaching Success
47:10- Athletic Success: The Genetic Advantage Perspective
54:02- Optimizing Training Schedules for Performance Enhancement
59:21- Irish Sports Clubs: Community Support and Culture
1:02:46- Enhancing Sports Performance Through Soft Coaching
1:07:29- Tactical Deficit-Focused Conditioning in Team Sports
1:12:06- Enhancing Sports Performance Through Motor Learning Principles
1:18:23- Engaging Sports Coaching and Skill Development Initiative
Kevin Mulcahy Quotes
"I'm not sure we all know how deep the science of sports goes yet." - Kevin Mulcahy
“How do we learn skills? How are they connected to skill as we see it? Because we see the action of a player throwing a basket, pulling a dummy solo, dribbling through a player in soccer, whatever and we see that as a fixed skill and that's something they did and they must practice that a thousand times. But versus the more ecological way looking at it like, you know, they saw an opportunity to act, they saw a gap, they saw space, they got free at the corner for a three point shot, whatever it is. And they just took it” - Kevin Mulcahy
“But traditionally, I would have struggled to get soccer and basketball players to engage in strength and conditioning more than any other sport, right. I don't know if that related to the street element where they have so much exposure, they have so much play, they feel good from it, they look good. I don't need (S&C). Why would I need that? You know, I'm well built. - Kevin Mulcahy
"I believe it was Steffan Jones,
