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ADS 0044: Tania Cassidy, PhD –Sport Pedagogy, Remaining Curious, and Staying in Touch with Your Community
My guest on the show today believes that sports coaching is as much about good teaching and relationships as it is about expertise in sport skills and tactics. Her name is Dr Tania Cassidy and she’s an Associate Professor in Sport Pedagogy at the University of Otago, where she is both a teacher and a researcher.
Tania’s PhD, which she completed at Deakin University in South Australia, examined the pedagogical process in teacher education. Then, in 2004 Tania wrote a book called; Understanding Sports Coaching: The social, cultural and pedagogical foundations of sports practice, which was instrumental in shifting the discussion from sports science towards the pedagogy of sports coaching.
Tania has authored many peer-reviewed articles and sits on the editorial board of several journals, including the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, the International Journal of Sports Psychology, and the New Zealand Physical Educator.
Tania’s current research interests include the pedagogy of sports coaching, coach education and development, youth development and sports coaching, and the politics and policies of coach development and education.
In this episode, Tania reveals a key moment in her life and how it has influenced her journey ever since, we discuss how sports research has changed over the last 50 years and what that has meant for sports coaching, and Tania describes how sport has enabled freedom in her life from the moment she threw her first ball.
Highlights from the Show
- Tania’s modest, free-range childhood
- The importance of curiosity
- How Tania’s upbringing reinforced hard work
- Training versus playing and why learning how to learn is vital
- How Tania’s interactions with the community inspire her work
- Boosting creativity
- How global travel has influenced Tania’s world view and research
- The importance of interruption for learning
- And why your coaching practices should always reflect what you believe in
