The Focal Point

In this episode Ian and Chris are joined by Jonny Ball, who talks high performance using a sandal as his focal point.

The conversation covers recovery from setback, making a positive impact on society through politics and the idea of serving again.

Some strong language in parts.

In the second part of the Armed Forces Day special, Chris and Ian take a deeper dive with Chris Gordon DFC into the performance lessons of his experiences. If you haven't already, go back to part 1 for the full story of the operation that saw him awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross [DFC] - which is his Focal Point.

In this episode we discuss, among other things, how personal involvement can change our performance, the potential power and challenges of detaching and the absolute importance of taking time to work out what has happened and it's impact.

As well as exploring the story through the lens of high performance, we also talk about some of our experiences around subjects such as PTSD and transitioning from the military into other walks of life.

Chris and Ian, as well as many of the Performance Edge team are veterans of the UK Military, and this episode, released around Armed Forces Day, is the first of a 2 part special with Chris Gordon DFC. 'Gordo' is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, flying chinook helicopters in country, and later piloting remote aircraft from the USA.

His Focal Point is his Distinguised Flying Cross [DFC], which still has the late Queen's fingerprint on the back.

In this first episode, Gordo shares the story of the deployment that saw him awarded the DFC, telling us the story of what happened in the runup, during and immediately after the hugely challenging operation.

We wanted to give the story the space it needs, and it provides crucial context for the deeper dive into performance that comes in episode 2.

We're very grateful to Chris for sharing the story of his experience, and we hope you find it as engaging as we did.

In the last episode of this block of chats, Belinda Steward joins Ian to discuss her high performance insights via the focal point of her trusted running trainers. 

This episode was recorded back in the summer in a rather echoey room in the Isle of Arran, luckily Belinda does most of the talking so hopefully the echo isn't to annoying !!

We hope you enjoy the brilliant insights from Belinda.  

This week we are joined by Ryan Davies who is the Head of Academy Coaching at Swansea City Football Club.

Ryan talks to Ian about the power of curiosity in relation to development and gives some tips on how we can suspend judgement when it comes to learning.   

Season 3, Episode 2, this time it's with the fabulous Alice Henderson and her episode, The Mirror. I had no idea where the discussion with Alice would go and having listened back I'm honoured that she trusted me with her story.

It's an honest and frank conversation demonstrating the importance of high self awareness. Our work at Performance Edge consistently tells us that this is a fundamental for consistently operating at the highest levels. Give it a listen and let us know what you think. 

Ian and Chris kick off season 3 of the Focal Point with a fascinating discussion with England and Harlequin's rugby legend Mike Brown. 

In a slightly new format, Mike discusses topics such as purpose, permission and perseverance as we explore what performance means to him via his focal point, the shirt from his 350th game for Harlequins. 

We hope you enjoy listening as much as we did recording.   

In this episode Ian is joined by Embrace Your Power founder Hattie Green. Hattie shares her insights on what it takes to perform using the focal point of a set of Point Shoes. 

Hattie has a background in performing arts as well as setting up her own coaching business, all of which are discussed via the metaphor of her focal point. 

Hattie has unrivalled levels of positivity which is very infectious. She explores the need to look after ourselves and why we don't prioritise that as much as we should as well as exploring the concept of Goal Line Vs Soul Line. 

Enjoy. 

In this episode Chris and Ian are joined by Newport rugby legend Ashton Hewitt. He shares his insights on what it takes to perform in professional rugby and the focus needed to recover from injury. 

Ashton is also well known for his activism and passion on the key issues such as diversity and inclusion and racial inequality. This is a candid discussion where Ashton opens up on the reality of the challenges he faces. They are challenges we all need to hear about. 

Ashton is a busy man (as you will hear in the episode), so we caught up with him over zoom at home. We hope you enjoy this thought provoking discussion. 

In this episode Chris and Ian are joined by a guru in human performance David Osgathorp. He shares his insights on what it takes to keep performing in some of the most demanding environments using his focal point of the Oura ring ( well worth a google is you looking for some good data on your physiological performance).

This episode coincides with the start of the 2022 F1 season.  If you have any interest in F1 it's worth downloading to hear what advice the tops teams in one of the worlds most demanding sports get from people like David.

After a little early season break, Chris and Ian are joined by Cat McCormick, a brilliant (i've been told by some the worlds best) physio from the world of elite athletics. 

Cat shares her perspective on high performance using the focal point of her trusted backpack that follows her to all competitions. She raises some excellent points and shares some fascinating insights from her unique vantage point. It was a pleasure to catch up with Cat in the months following a successful Summer Olympics in Tokyo. We hope you enjoy. 

In this episode Ian and Chris are joined by Ethan Smith, a health, fitness and wellness specialist based out of the KO8 gym in Dubai. Ethan is also the co founder of Liverpool Health and Wellbeing, a community initiative he started with his brother Jack in the city of Liverpool in 2019. 

Using his focal point of a sleep mask, Ethan takes us on a journey where we explore the benefits of shutting off and examine areas of our lives where shutting off more could be beneficial.    

Josh Kane is a priest whose parish is a community church in North London. Josh has been involved in the community throughout the pandemic, and also supports Innovista, a charity helping develop young church leaders. 

The focal point for the conversation was seeds, like those used to grow flowers in the church’s community garden. The garden became a shared place for connection in a socially distanced world.

For the final episode of this season Ian and Chris are joined by Sarah Cecil.

Sarah is the lead sports psychologist at the English Institute of Sport and has worked across a number of sports including, GB Snowsport, Tennis and the Premier League as well as supporting athletes at several Olympic and Paralympic games. 

With the delayed Tokyo Olympic games just around the corner, Sarah gives an amazing insight into the support provided to athletes by psychologists and how this helps them to perform on the biggest stage. This is all explained using her focal point, a standard safety pin.

Enjoy

In this episode Ian and Chris are joined by Josh Kozuch 

Josh is a mental skills coach for the Tampa Bay Rays baseball organization, currently working across their minor league programme. Josh holds a Masters degree in Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology.

The focal point for the conversation is a pen. Josh was inspired by the story of the US space programme spending hundreds of thousands of dollars building a pen that works in space, while their Russian equivalents used a pencil. This episode looks at the performance lessons we can take away from that story.

Enjoy  

In this episode Ian and Chris host Dan Cooke to talk about his focal point; a piece of wood he cut when undergoing training as an international rescue operative.

A former firefighter, Dan is a specialist in rescue operations for the charity Serve On. He has deployed to disaster zones all over the world, working in some of the most frightening and demanding environments imaginable, often being among the first outside help arriving on the scene after events such as earthquakes.

Dan now leads these teams and trains people to go wherever they're needed most, and his experiences give him a fascinating take on what high performance means and how people can achieve it.

Dan is the co-founder of Dark Swan, a company that specialises in developing skills and coaching by creating realistic challenge, and work with an impressive array of sports and businesses.

In this episode Chris and Ian are joined by Kathryn (Kitty) Stuart.

Kitty is currently the player insights scientist at the FA and has previously worked providing data and analysis for elite organisations including England Cricket, GB Para-Swimming and GB Boxing. She pioneered the What it Takes to Win (WITTW) approach to data.

This week Chris and Ian are joined by Dr David Henson MBE. 

Dave is a former British Army Officer and Paralympian, has been involved in the Invictus Games and currently works developing new prosthetic technology for use in low-middle-income countries.

In this episode Dave explains how the human knee is the epitome of high performance. 

Chris and Ian kick off The Focal Point podcast and are joined by their first guest Joshua Ellins.

Joshua works in the fashion industry and is a former Royal Air Force officer. In this episode Joshua explains how a bracelet given to him by his father relates to high performance.

Enjoy,

Chris & Ian

Chris and Ian discuss the goals and format of the podcast. 

First episode "Bracelet" due for release on the 20 Apr 2021. 

Feedback and ideas always welcome.

Subscribe now on Spotify.

Cheers, 

Chris & Ian