EXPERT | Rob Gray on The Gap Between Sports Science Researchers and Coaches (Part 1)

Rob Gray is an associate Professor at Arizona State University, host of The Perception & Action Podcast, and a Skill Acquisition Specialist for the Boston Red Sox. He’s been studying movement and publishing research on it for 25 years. In this Part 1 of 2, Kris and Rob discuss the limitations and challenges of using sports science research for coaches and practitioners, as well as some ways both coaches and researchers could do it better. ____________________ EXPLORE FURTHER Our entire movement skills resource library Coaching for Mastery course mentioned in the episode Follow Rob on Instagram Check out The Perception & Action Podcast Check out Rob's books: How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach & Practice Sports Skills Learning to Optimize Movement: Harnessing the Power of the Athlete-Environment Relationship ____________________ SUPPORT + CONNECT Help us keep the show sponsor-free when you join our Patreon Community for as little as $3. Get two or more bonus episodes every month on Patreon, Spotify, or Apple. Subscribe to THE CURRENT and get a monthly exploration of how we can all become better climbers. Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it. ____________________ The Power Company Podcast is a proud founding member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry. Find full episode transcripts and more at our website. ____________________ CHAPTERS (0:00) Intro (1:31) Guest Introduction (3:20) Topic Explanation (5:18) Accessibility (6:13) Impenetrability (7:33) Generalizability (8:43) ANNOTATION: Don’t Discount Small Studies (10:49) Researchers Asking the Wrong Questions (11:49) How to Make it User Friendly (19:34) The Value of Case Studies (22:19) Studies Lack Real World Variables (24:23) ANNOTATION: Functional Movement Variability (26:44) What is it We Should be Looking For in Studies? (30:49) Coaches and Researchers Meeting in the Middle (33:48) Limitations of Using Studies From Other Sports (37:24) ANNOTATION: Constraints and Self Organization (40:54) ”Evidence-Based” Elitism (43:27) Wrap Up