In the Best Of 2024 collection, I’ve pulled together some of the most insightful moments from your favourite guests to help you revisit some powerful lessons.

In part one of this 3-part series, we hear from Founder of the Atua Matua, Dr Ihirangi Heke, People Developer, Rusty Earnshaw, and Performance Breakthrough Specialist, Dr Richard Young.

All 3 guests can be heard in full in their respective episodes linked below:

• ADS 163 Dr Ihirangi Heke
• ADS 170 Rusty Earnshaw
• ADS 174 Dr Richard Young

We kick off this anthology episode hearing from Richard about the powerful idea he calls the ‘busy middle’.

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At the age of 17, my guest on today’s show received advice from her ski coach that led to her drop out. Although well intended, is was advice lacking in awareness of female physiology.

Dr Julia Casadio is a sport physiologist and applied researcher with over 15 years of experience in elite sport. She has spent most of her career in the Performance Physiology team at High Performance Sport New Zealand.

Julia and I connected around her latest project, Her Strength, a science-based digital platform designed to educate on the unique needs of the young female athlete.

In this conversation, we learn all about Her Strength, including who’s it for, what it covers, and why Julia is so passionate about making an impact. We start off hearing about the lessons Julia is learning running her own business .

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I met Tara at the age of 14 when she first entered the sports hall at AUT Millennium to join our Athlete Development Program. Four years later she got a call from esteemed Canoe Racing New Zealand lead coach, Gordon Walker, inviting her to join the high performance world. Then, just two years after that, she teamed up with Dame Lisa Carrington, Alicia Hoskin and Olivia Brett to win gold in the woman’s K4 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

This is Tara’s story.

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The evidence is clear. Stronger athletes move better, get injured less and stay engaged with sport for longer.

But what should strength training look like for children?

My guest today is Dr Ben Pullen, PhD in paediatric strength and conditioning and the founder of Young Athlete Training.

Ben’s work integrates the physical and psychological considerations of development to provide novel, engaging and individualised strength training to both child and teenage athletes.

In this conversation, we learn all about Ben’s approach, including the four pillars that underpin his work, his specific methodology and why it’s so powerful for children, how he periodises his challenge-based training, new science that shows how children learn, and much more. I’m a huge fan of Ben’s mission and I’m so stoked to share it with you.

Enjoy!

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My guest today is Associate Professor Ian Renshaw, teacher, coach, researcher, and voracious learner. Over 35 years working in higher education, Ian has advised sporting organisations at the community and high performance level, published over 190 research articles, written several books, and collaborated on projects all over the world.

In this conversation, we trace Ian’s fascinating journey from schoolboy in the UK to working and raising children in New Zealand and Australia. Ian shares stories of engagement, motivation, optimism and development to help us create better learning environments for the young people we serve.

Enjoy!

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My guest today is Dr Martin Buchheit, an esteemed author of over 250 scientific papers, 2 best-selling books, co-founder of the HIIT Science podcast, and over 20 years working in professional sports. Focusing on bridging the gap between sports science knowledge and its practical application, Martin has held roles at Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Olympique de Lyon, Lille OSC, Aspetar, Aspire Academy, and various other consultancies around the world.

In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore Martin’s educated perspective on development, including how he applies what he believes with his own kids. This is a conversation less about the science of development and more about philosophy. I loved it for how Martin distils a very complex world into what really matters for raising young people who know their worth and have the skills to go after what they want. Sit back and enjoy the wisdom of one of the best.

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This conversation is with Dr David Johnson, a physical development specialist with a deep understanding of growth and development. His research in injury prevention has shown what’s possible in football when the natural changes every young athlete experiences are accounted for. As the Head of Physical Development at West Ham United Football Academy and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Bath, David continues to be a leader in this field.

Today, we explore David’s research, including the questions he asked, what he found and how he integrated his findings into practice. We discuss how you can measure growth regardless of the resource you have available, the 4 key risk factors of injury, and how you can effectively intervene to protect your athletes. We also discuss David’s current project where he’s taking the scientific process he learnt studying for his PhD and applying it to nutrition.

If you work with athletes navigating accreted growth and would like to know more about preventing physical injury, this conversation is a must-listen. Enjoy!

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Are you looking for deeper, more impactful development? The answer is strategic simplicity.

My guest today is Dr Richard Young, keynote speaker, author, and adviser to sports leaders, teams, and professionals around the world. He has won international gold medals in cycling, coached world champions, created medal-winning programmes for three countries, and has been described as a ‘world-class performance creator’.

Born in the UK, raised in Canada, and now living with his four children in Dunedin, New Zealand, Richard earned his PhD in engineering and medical science and has studied the key differences between what athletes and their teams do who win medals and those who don’t.

In this conversation, Richard shares his system for turning potential into performance, starting with an idea he calls the ‘busy middle’.

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