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Essential shades of gray-The it depends approach to coaching

Dave Collins and Jamie Taylor ©2025

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In recent decades, sport science has seen an explosion in the volume of knowledge regarding skill acquisition and motor control. In Sport Skill Acquisition, the editors consider the expanding knowledge with a focus on application. This webinar by Dave Collins, PhD, and Jamie Taylor, PhD, will explore how three major theoretical perspectives that dominate the field (cognitive, ecological dynamics, and predictive processing) can be applied to coaching using a practice termed professional judgment and decision making (PJDM), or the it depends approach, which stresses the need to carefully consider and apply the best strategy for each particular context.

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About the presenters

Dave Collins, PhD, earned a doctorate in psychology from the University of Surrey in 1990. He is currently the director of Grey Matters UK, a performance-focused company that offers applied consultancy services in sports, business, performing arts, and more. He is also a professor at the University of Edinburgh, an institution ranked in the world’s top 20 by QS World University Rankings. Collins has written over 450 peer-reviewed publications and has authored or contributed to 90 books. His research interests include performer and coach development, expertise, and peak performance. As a practitioner, Collins has worked with more than 90 world-class athletes or Olympic medalists as well as professional athletic teams and performers. He is the director of the Rugby Coaches Association, a fellow of the Society of Martial Arts, a fellow of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES), and an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society. Collins is a former Royal Marine and a fifth dan in karate.

Jamie Taylor, PhD, earned a doctorate in psychology from the University of Edinburgh in 2020. He is currently an assistant professor and lecturer in coaching and elite performance at Dublin City University. As a senior coach developer at Grey Matters UK, Taylor offers ongoing contributions to the development of coaches and coach supporters in athletics, netball, rugby union, football, adventure sports, and the Special Olympics. He has worked with over 150 coaches in a developmental capacity and consulted across a wide range of sports and contexts, including Olympic and Paralympic programs. While working with the English Institute of Sport, Taylor supported the creation of the Coach Developer CIMSPA standards. His research focus spans across performance enhancement in sport, specifically in coaching, coach development, high performance, and talent development.