{"id":31290,"date":"2025-10-02T15:46:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=31290"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:10:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:10:36","slug":"the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-19","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-debrief-a-snapshot-of-powerful-discussions-happening-right-now-across-the-leaders-performance-institute-19\/","title":{"rendered":"The Debrief \u2013 a Snapshot of Powerful Discussions Happening Right Now Across the Leaders Performance Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 2 Oct 2025 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

The Debrief \u2013 a Snapshot of Powerful Discussions Happening Right Now Across the Leaders Performance Institute<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Coaching & Development<\/a>, Human Performance<\/a>, Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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Female athletes, Artificial Intelligence, adaptive leadership and psychology were all on the agenda in September.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
Working with England\u2019s World Cup-winning Red Roses transformed John Mitchell as a coach, long before last weekend\u2019s 33-13 defeat of Canada in the final.<\/h6>\n

\u201cMost of my career has been in the men\u2019s game,\u201d he said in the aftermath. \u201cIt was the only reference I ever had. To get the opportunity to coach these girls you have got to observe and listen and find ways to make them tick.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bonds they have forged during his two-year tenure will last a lifetime. \u201cTo be associated with these girls, they are driven, they have changed my life, changed the way I think as well. All of those sorts of things are added bonuses. A trophy is one thing, a medal is another thing but actually the quality of the people you work with is the ultimate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell\u2019s sentiments were reflected across several of the conversations we hosted for members of the Leaders Performance Institute in September, from coaching female athletes to a coach\u2019s ability to adapt to their changing environment.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the choicest cuts.<\/p>\n

Performance anxiety or body anxiety?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month, we shone light on Rachel Vickery\u2019s appearance onstage at the Women\u2019s Sport Breakfast<\/a> at our Sport Performance Summit in Philadelphia. Vickery, a high-performance specialist and former artistic gymnast, recounted a recurring issue from her time working as a physio. Young female athletes would occasionally be sent to her with what was assumed to be exercise-induced asthma. It turned out their breathing difficulties were often anxiety-induced.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could see the look of relief on their faces when I started talking about body image, self-esteem and self-worth,\u201d she continued. \u201cSo I started a seminar series in 2008 for female athletes and their parents called Growing Up in Lycra around body image identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seminars were picked up by Swimming Queensland. \u201cI project managed the transformation of these seminars into an education DVD resource that was sent to all female athletes, parents and coaches State-wide.\u201d It was later turned into a national resource by Swimming Australia. \u201cWe got some former Olympians involved and that resource went to all of our female athletes, their coaches and their parents. That resource is still used today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The role of AI in learning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vickery was back at the helm for a Leaders Virtual Roundtable discussing how Leaders Performance Institute members can make learning more effective within their teams.<\/p>\n

AI was high on the agenda<\/a>. \u201cAI should be used to support the growth and creativity of staff as opposed to being used for shortcuts where people become lazy,\u201d said one coach developer.<\/p>\n

Overreliance on AI, as this coach pointed out above, can stifle creativity. The table also suggested a series of shortcomings in current generations of AI:<\/p>\n