Top 5s of 2017 – PE, Youth Sport and Personal Development

“If you are on social media, and you are not learning, not laughing, not being inspired or not networking, then you are using it wrong.” ― Germany Kent

Life is ultimately absurd, but at the end of 2017, I have managed to find some professional and personal peace. A clear purpose and meaning in both, not in the global sense but a more local and individualised one is able to overcome where the absurd may lead. The betterment of myself for the betterment of others. Work does not seem to be able to provide me with the time, resources or wisdom to equip me in my search for craftsmanship in how to teach PE (or live a good life). So social media has become increasingly important to me. Many times it is the beginning of my reflection, challenge, curiosity and dialogue and how to develop my craft. In seeking virtuosity in what I do, how I act, in Being. Thank you to all those that continually contribute to my development.

Tweeters – generous with their time, helpful and challenging.

Physical Education	Youth Sport	Personal Development
Dr Alan Thompson	Danny Newcombe	Iesha Small
Aaron Beighle	Ric Shuttleworth	Keith Lyons
Dean Dudley	Russel Earnshaw and his Magic Academy	Erwan Le Corre
Dr Stephen Harvey	Prof Chris Cushion	Nate Babcock
Shrehan Lynch	Dave Collins	Mel Hamada

Bloggers – simply read everything they write.

Physical Education	Youth Sport	Personal Development
Mel Hamada at melhamada.com	Al Smith, Mark Upton and Jono Byrne at MyFastest Mile	Massimo Pigliucci at How to be a Stoic
Balbinder Singh at Reinvent the game.	John O’Sullivan at Changing the Game Project	Dave Snowden at Cognitive Edge
Rae Omar at The NQT Year	Paul Gamble at Informed in Sport	Greg Ashman at Filling the Pail
Shane Pill at Learning Through Sport	Darren Wensor at Coaching Young Athletes	Gary Jones at Evidenced Based Educational Leadership
Justen O’Connor at Assessment in PE	Tim Buszard at Skill Acquisition Research	Dawn Cox at missdcoxblog

Books – those books that have changed or challenged my practice.

Physical Education	Youth Sport	Personal Development
A practical guide to assessing without levels in PE	Strength and Conditioning for Youth Athletes	Meditations
Physical Literacy – Through the Lifecourse	Sports Psychology for Young Athletes	Cleverlands
Pedagogy and Human Movement	No Sweat	Sense-Making: What Makes Human Intelligence Essential in the Age of the Algorithm
Practical Philosophy of Sport and Physical Activity	Movement Efficiency for the Developing Athlete	Behave: The Biology of Humans at our best and worst
Physical Education Futures	The Sports Gene: Talent, Practice and the Truth about Success	The Righteous Mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion

Videos and Podcasts – making my commute both entertaining and educational.

Physical Education	Youth Sport	Personal Development
Connected PE	Athlete Development	Very Bad Wizards
Global Physed Voxcast	Perception & Action	Philosophy Bites
The PE Umbrella	Talent Equation	Finding Mastery
Teaching PE as if our Futures Depend on It	Way of the Champions	Run Your Life Show
Finding Joy in PE with Dr. Scott Kretchmar is a podcast by Jorge Rodriguez and Justin Schleider	Colm O’Connor talk from the GAA Development Conference	Eddie Jones Q and A at Oxford Univerity

Blog Posts – posts that I keep going back to over and over again.

Physical Education	Youth Sport	Personal Development
Making Sense of Physical Literacy by Nathan Horne	“We can’t be our best until you’re your best” from Mark Upton	Does age bring wisdom
Movement Educates by Nate Babcock	The $1,000,000 question… by Nick Hill	Academic and non-academic subjects by Andrew Old
Using metaphors to think about the features of meaningful experiences from the crew at Meaningful PE	The importance of context underpinning the purpose of learning and training by Ben Franks	Descartes was wrong: ‘a person is a person through other persons’ by Abeba Birhane
Delightful Physical Education by Doug Gleddie	After 10 Years of Coaching Here’s What I Think I Know by Ross Williams	The Three Cs by Richard Martin
Why PE teachers are the gatekeepers of the future health and well-being of students by Laura Davies	What we believe by the crew of My Fastest Mile	Education is an end in itself by Carl Hendrick