'A conversation with Graham Turner' - The Young Athletes' Perspective

Parents in Sport Podcast

In this episode Australian Institute of Sport Athlete Development Senior Lead Graham Turner joins Gordon MacLelland to discuss his latest book 'The Young Athlete's Perspective.'

This book features six stories told by young athletes about their talent development experiences in sport. Each young athlete tells a personal story. They describe their own individual set of circumstances and provide a personal perspective that has been shaped by living in contemporary times.

These unique stories are shared in the hope that they may support coaches and parents to better connect with the young athlete’s perspective. When considered together, these individual insights confirm the essence of the talent development experience, and they reveal what every parent and coach supporting and developing the young athlete needs to know.

During the conversation they discuss amongst other things:

• Understanding the mentality of young people
• Working closely to understand your own child (they are all different)
• The importance of hard work and making the most from the whole sporting experience
• Helping our children to trust themselves and find environments that allow them to thrive
• The importance of positive relationships between the key people around young people
• Creating an environment for genuine, authentic conversations
• Impression management and how information is perceived by all involved
• The importance of parental role-modelling and walking the walk

Graham works for the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) as Athlete Development Senior Lead, supporting National Sporting Organisations to establish world’s best High-Performance Pathways that identify, develop, and progress talented athletes to achieve medal winning performances.

Graham's career in athlete development and talent pathways began in professional football at Wolverhampton Wanderers where he worked under former England National Coach Graham Taylor. He then went on to work for Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Crewe Alexandra, Leeds United and Bradford City. His subsequent experience includes research, design & implementation of National Strategy for Talent Development, (PE & Sport Strategy for Young People UK); design, delivery & evaluation of Coach Education, (Leeds Beckett University), Founder Member & Director on the Inaugural Board of the UK Strength & Conditioning Association; Coach & Athlete Development Consultant (Skill & Behaviour) for the Northern Territory Institute of Sport (AU) and National Elite Coaching Manager for Gymnastics Australia. Graham holds a PhD in Talent Development in Sport.