I’m delighted to speak with coach developer and coach, Stephen Maxwell this week. Stephen is the Coach Education Manager at Cricket Ireland, where he supports coaches and coach developers.

Stephen has been coaching for approximately 22 years. He is currently the Senior Men's Football Manager at Thomas Davis GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) Club. Previously, he coached the Dublin Senior GAA Team – helping them win the All-Ireland Championship in 2023.

Stephen is the founder and creator of No Other Game Around which specialises in coach development, team training and the technical and personal development of individual athletes.

I am honoured to be joined again by high-performance consultant, Lisa Alexander, in this episode. Lisa works with coaches, teams and organisations to create winning and success-driven environments.

Lisa is one of the most successful coaches in Australian sport. As the Head Coach of the Australian Diamonds, the Australian National Netball Team, Lisa lead the team to multiple wins including a Commonwealth Gold Medal.

In 2021 Lisa received the Order of Australia, the highest recognition for outstanding achievement and service in the Australian honours system, for her significant service to netball at the elite level.

We speak about Lisa’s long career as Head Coach of the Diamonds. How she went about establishing a true person-centred environment; the parallels between teaching and coaching; getting to know your team and directive vs non-directive coaching.

I’m delighted to speak with Jonathan Pendlebury this week. Jonathan is the U18 Head Coach and Pathway Development Coach at the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the national governing body for rugby union in England.

Jonathan oversees player development for the U17 and U18 year old (men) in the programmes and pathways of the RFU and the Premiership Rugby (PRL) Regional Academies in England.

Jonathan is qualified to RFU Level 4 coaching award. He has experience coaching and working with all age groups and abilities from junior to senior.

Prior to his position at the RFU, Jonathan worked at Wasps Rugby and with Yorkshire Carnegie as Academy Manager, building upon the experience he gained as a professional rugby player of ten years, having represented Premiership and Championship clubs until 2012.

Jonathan has also completed a BSc (Hon) degree in Sport Coaching with Leeds Beckett, achieving first class honours. He also has a MSc in Sport Coaching.