Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / BONUS: The Podcast About Podcasts – Featuring Track and Field Performance
Transcript
- 0:00It's bonus time. Here we go.
- 0:02This month in February of 2025, we are doing a podcast about
- 0:06podcast. We want to introduce you to
- 0:08other track and field themed podcasts that are out there that
- 0:11might be great for your listening pleasure.
- 0:14So all month we're introducing a new podcast each and every day,
- 0:17showing you who they are, what they are, how they are, why they
- 0:20got started and even their favorite episodes and most
- 0:23popular. And hopefully this adds to your
- 0:26podcast listening library. So here we go.
- 0:28Let's get started with today's podcast about podcast.
- 0:32OK, Why don't we get started today?
- 0:34Why don't you introduce yourself kind of a 32nd, 30,000 foot
- 0:38level of your place in this great sport of ours?
- 0:41And then what is the name of the podcast that we're talking about
- 0:44today? Yeah, so my name is Colin Burke.
- 0:48I'm a long jumper, and I have now bleeded into long jumping
- 0:52coaching and triple jump coaching as well.
- 0:54I suppose I'd say horizontal jumps coaching broadly.
- 0:58I work as a career guidance professional.
- 1:01That's my main job. So I work outside of the sport
- 1:04primarily, but coaching is a part time thing for me.
- 1:07But I've been in the sport 15 years as an athlete.
- 1:10UMM made it through to kind of national, international level
- 1:14and my podcast is called the Track and Field Performance
- 1:17Podcast. I love that Now I like to follow
- 1:21up with was the significance of the name, but you might have
- 1:24nailed it right on the head. So tell me what you focus on in
- 1:27the Track and Field Performance podcast.
- 1:30So I would say that the focus of it is, is to capture different
- 1:35ideas from various event disciplines as well as aspects
- 1:42of performance like nutrition, psychology, et cetera, from
- 1:46different people around the world.
- 1:47So I think that that's a significant part is that it's
- 1:50not exclusively coaches or practitioners in the US or the
- 1:54UK. It's it's really trying to
- 1:56capture the breadth of the international coach.
- 2:01So on our the Guild Connections podcast, in our pre interview, I
- 2:04always tell coaches, you know, we're not going to talk about
- 2:07X's and O's. There's other great avenues,
- 2:10clinics, podcasts, etcetera. And I'm always thinking about
- 2:12your podcast. Fair to say that your podcast
- 2:15you're really diving into X's and O's.
- 2:18Yeah, totally. I think when I initially thought
- 2:22of the podcast like that, that is definitely what I wanted to
- 2:24discourse, like the technical elements of let's say, long
- 2:28jumping, triple jumping, sprinting, high jump, you name
- 2:30it. Umm, and and yeah, so it's about
- 2:34that. And then coaching, like the
- 2:36communication side of it, like how do you deal with athletes on
- 2:40a day-to-day, the heat of the moment, Umm, as well as, you
- 2:43know, periodization and training.
- 2:45So it's, it's everything from the physical, the mental, the
- 2:48technical and the tactical. So as I said, nutrition
- 2:51lifestyle, like we really try to cover a lot of it.
- 2:54But ultimately, you know, there are a lot of performance
- 2:56podcasts out there. I try to bring people in that
- 2:59are very much in the world of track and field.
- 3:01So if they're a performance practitioner, sports
- 3:03psychologists, they've worked with track and field athletes or
- 3:05nutritionists, umm, or nutritionists have worked with
- 3:08them and you know, of course the event disciplines run across the
- 3:13throws, the jumps, etcetera. So it's, it's trying to really
- 3:15get into the, the nitty gritty of, of each of the, I suppose,
- 3:20aspects of performance. I love that.
- 3:22And what style is this you mentioned kind of interviewing
- 3:25so or is it all interviews? Is there any inner any ever like
- 3:28solo podcast from you? What?
- 3:30What kind of style can we generally expect?
- 3:33I would say that it's very much interview focused.
- 3:35I think the format of the podcast is always to get the
- 3:40guest to talk as much as possible.
- 3:42And that doesn't always happen, certainly didn't happen in the
- 3:45early part of my podcasting journey.
- 3:47But as as time has gone on, I feel like I've got more settled
- 3:50into just, you know, trying to capture a topic that will allow
- 3:54the expert to really get in deep into what they know.
- 3:58And umm, yeah, Ultimately I don't foresee myself going into
- 4:02the solo podcasting world. And I'll be honest in saying
- 4:07it's because I don't have the expertise that let's say some of
- 4:10these people that I get on have umm, these are international
- 4:14renowned coaches that I'm talking to.
- 4:16And I feel grateful enough that I'm able to, you know,
- 4:19facilitate an interview with them in the first place.
- 4:22Now, not to say that in in 10 years time it might not change
- 4:26into that, umm Bush. At the moment it is very much
- 4:29like me trying to find ways to get the most out of them.
- 4:33And and knowing that there's men and Maxes to everything, but
- 4:36what is the average episode length that we could expect?
- 4:41Yeah, that's something I've thought a lot about.
- 4:43I feel like if anyone is interested in my podcast, they
- 4:48probably are someone who enjoys long form content.
- 4:52So I I think I have a lot of episodes probably ranging from
- 4:551:15 right through to like 2 hours.
- 4:59As I said, we're getting into the nitty gritty of, of the
- 5:02details of all these things and, and sometimes new topics emerge
- 5:06that we didn't really plan for. And so I don't like to control
- 5:09for length too much. I think of it more as a, you
- 5:12know, a range 115, but umm, yeah, probably like one hour and
- 5:16a half is like the average, but I've definitely done a lot
- 5:19longer than two hours at the same time.
- 5:21It's after my own heart. Trust me, I'm good with that.
- 5:24Come come. How long?
- 5:25When did you start this and and why?
- 5:27You know, there's a lot of other avenues out there for writing
- 5:30and speaking and things like that.
- 5:31Why start a podcast and when? So I started it at the end of
- 5:362020, but I really had the idea during COVID and I think that's
- 5:39when a lot of podcasts began. The birth of podcasting really
- 5:44took off during that time. But I thought of the idea
- 5:49because I felt like I was someone who knew a lot of
- 5:54coaches from a lot of different places.
- 5:56Simply put, I was living in America in Monroe, LA at the
- 6:00time. But I've been, as I said,
- 6:02involved in track and field for 15 years and growing up and
- 6:06becoming a long triple jumper who wasn't particularly good
- 6:10when they started. I started researching a lot of,
- 6:14you know, YouTube videos where I would see the likes of Bouche
- 6:18Axe, Nader, Dan Path, Travis Gafford.
- 6:20But then meanwhile, like I'm watching the international
- 6:23competitions over in Europe, which happen every year,
- 6:25European indoors, European outdoors, Commonwealth Games.
- 6:29And I'm seeing British athletes, French athletes, you know,
- 6:32Eastern Europeans competing. And I start getting curious
- 6:35about, you know, who's coaching them and, and what, what are
- 6:37they doing, their different styles and everything like that.
- 6:40And so I think as I got into my late teens, I started to realize
- 6:44like I actually know a lot of different coaches from a lot of
- 6:47different areas. And that even became more
- 6:49obvious when I moved over to the NCA when I'm talking to other
- 6:53coaches and they're very familiar with the USATF system
- 6:57and you know, those who are coaching Olympic level athletes.
- 7:00But in Ireland the the sport has such a a broadview.
- 7:06We have a very defined club system.
- 7:08We have major championships, as I said, at a continental level.
- 7:12So I think again, I started to look a lot wider at, you know,
- 7:17who the experts were and and so the podcasts idea was I feel
- 7:22like I know. So a lot of people in, you know,
- 7:24again, these different countries that I've mentioned, I would
- 7:27love if AUS coach could learn from, say, a French coach or an
- 7:32Australian coach, AUK coach they never heard of before and may
- 7:36never otherwise, and vice versa. So I think that's really what it
- 7:41came down to. I felt like my kind of
- 7:42upbringing as an athlete really encouraged me to look far and
- 7:46wide. And again, you know, with our
- 7:48set up in Europe. And then just bringing that into
- 7:52a place where diverse guests can really start to share their
- 7:56perspective. Because, you know, as you know
- 7:58yourself, Mike, as a as a former coach, like there's many ways to
- 8:01skin a cat in this in this sport.
- 8:03So, you know, it's really, I think, healthy for a lot of
- 8:06people to sit down and hear a different perspective.
- 8:09Yeah, I I love that podcast and zoom that helps with podcast
- 8:13bring, you know, makes that world flatter and flatter that
- 8:17we can learn from a coach in Ireland, a coach in the UK,
- 8:20etcetera and vice versa in a podcast form.
- 8:24And I love that you're doing I love that you picked it up
- 8:26because is flat as the world already is with cell phones and
- 8:29Internet and social media. It wasn't flat enough and this
- 8:32is an Ave. that helps that. So I really love that and
- 8:34committee for doing that. In common business, every
- 8:38business we create what's called an ideal customer profile.
- 8:41So like here at Gill, we certainly have a lot of
- 8:44different people that will buy our equipment.
- 8:46We have moms and dads that will buy discuses for Christmas.
- 8:49We have architects, athletic directors, contractors, but our
- 8:53ideal customer, the person that we are thinking about when we
- 8:56design new equipment, market it, what trade shows we're going to
- 8:59go to, it's the high school and the college track coach.
- 9:02Those people. That is always in our mind when
- 9:04we do anything. And then everything else is kind
- 9:06of a byproduct. The same can be said for
- 9:09podcasts. Many different people might
- 9:11listen to your podcast, Athletes, coaches, directors,
- 9:14PTS, etcetera. ATS may listen to it, but you
- 9:17are speaking to a very specific type of person.
- 9:21Who would be for your podcast tracking field performance
- 9:23podcast? Who would be your ideal listener
- 9:25profile? Who's going to get the most
- 9:27value out of listening to your your show?
- 9:32I would say it's someone who is first of all innately curious
- 9:37because they are quite long form and they are quite detailed in
- 9:42terms of like some of the subject matter that goes into
- 9:45us. I think like curiosity and umm,
- 9:49a love for Gray area as well is important.
- 9:53So open mindedness I'd nearly say too.
- 9:56And then getting into more of the demographics.
- 9:58I'd say obviously someone who works in track of field would be
- 10:02ideal, but I don't think it always is the case.
- 10:05I think if someone like Stu McMillan is talking about
- 10:07acceleration, umm, you might see a relationship between that and
- 10:12team sport. Likewise, if someone is talking
- 10:15about how they, you know, manage conflict with athletes or
- 10:18something like that, which has come up before, who's to say
- 10:22that a performance coach in in any kind of level can not learn
- 10:26something from that? I think if there was an ideal
- 10:29customer, it would be someone who's working in the event
- 10:33disciplines Dash, you know, exist within track and field
- 10:37ultimately, and I would say probably someone at a semi elite
- 10:40or umm developmental stage. So or developed.
- 10:47I should say developmental would mean that, you know, we're
- 10:49talking about more fundamentals, which sometimes we do, but I
- 10:52think umm, again, it can be very detailed.
- 10:56So I do believe that some of the OR most of the subject matter
- 10:59would resonate more with the developed athletes collegiate
- 11:02and onwards If if I'm making sense by saying that.
- 11:05So if we talk about beginner coach, intermediate and
- 11:09advanced, beginners might struggle a little bit.
- 11:11So intermediate to advanced level of understanding.
- 11:14And do you, you know, I always think of you as the jumps first
- 11:17and foremost column, but are you doing all disciplines, distance
- 11:21throws, jump sprints, hurdles? Yeah, umm, I would say there's
- 11:26certainly a, a favorites towards jumps and sprints.
- 11:29There's no doubt about it. That's where I'm comfortable.
- 11:31That's where I'm naturally curious.
- 11:32I mean, I wrote down when I started the podcast, like 50
- 11:36plus names and I won't lie that most of them were jumps and
- 11:39sprints. Like there's no doubt about it.
- 11:41And I've had to get more assistance from other people
- 11:43that are really are expert in the throws and so forth to help
- 11:46me out with who they would want to hear from.
- 11:48Umm, same in distance, which, umm, you know, I've had no
- 11:52problem doing Bush I, the goal is always to keep it universally
- 11:58track and field. And so I do hope to do that,
- 12:00although I know there are podcasts, umm, exclusively for
- 12:03the likes of pole vault and throws.
- 12:04So yeah, I think those fields are being well looked after.
- 12:07But my my aim is is definitely to keep branching out towards
- 12:10umm all distance. You named it the Track and Field
- 12:14Performance Podcast, not the jumps or spread, So yeah, I love
- 12:17that. Great, great, great, eh for you
- 12:19column. The next question here is what
- 12:21has been it's kind of A2 parter. They're not necessarily the same
- 12:25answer here. You've been involved now for
- 12:28four, going on five years with the podcast.
- 12:30What has been your favorite episode?
- 12:33And then kind of coincidentally, another way, another way to ask
- 12:37this question. I always try to use these big
- 12:39words column. That's what I still need to
- 12:41learn as a podcast though, so just keep it simple.
- 12:43What has maybe been your most popular episode?
- 12:46Like maybe you're #1 most downloaded, so not necessarily
- 12:48the same episode there. What's been your favorite and
- 12:50what's been the most popular? Yeah, the favorite is a hard
- 12:54one. I think the great thing about
- 12:56this is that I now can say that some of my guests who I got on
- 13:01the podcast for the first time, and I, I mean, I contacted them
- 13:06for the first time ever, are now quite good friends of mine.
- 13:10Umm, I've met some in real life and, you know, shared coffee or
- 13:14food or whatever, and we text often.
- 13:16I think, you know, those really stay ingrained in my mind.
- 13:21Like there's a couple of those now where I'm like, it's very
- 13:24hard for me to pick, you know, another episode.
- 13:27And plus, you know, there's guests that I've got on that.
- 13:30Like I couldn't even believe I was chatting to them but maybe
- 13:34didn't play out exactly how I thought it would.
- 13:37So it's really hard for me to pick a favorite.
- 13:40But I can tell you, Daphne, which is the most, umm, most
- 13:43downloaded because I looked it up last night when I was looking
- 13:45at your questions and believe it or not, there was only 10
- 13:48downloads in the difference umm, and one was significantly older
- 13:53than the the second. So it was kind of hard for me to
- 13:57say. Well, actually, you know, if you
- 13:59ask me this in a few days time, it'll actually be different.
- 14:01I think umm, because that's the thing about podcasts, isn't it?
- 14:04It's just that the the views can continue to grow over time.
- 14:07The most downloaded, which I'm actually really proud of both
- 14:13the top two I'm proud of because it it shows that the goal of the
- 14:16podcasts being fulfilled. The top guest, umm, was Lauren
- 14:19Mealy of the Netherlands, who's coach and Femca ball umm, like a
- 14:23Clover and several other Dutch sprinters umm to Olympic, you
- 14:28know, gold medals really. Yeah.
- 14:30And so that to me is like a marker of an international coach
- 14:36from, you know, my my largest audience is the US.
- 14:40So the fact that that's the most downloaded.
- 14:42I love that. Yeah, I agree.
- 14:45They're connecting with the voice that maybe they haven't
- 14:48otherwise many would have known him because he is quite, you
- 14:51know, eh, at the forefront of the sport now with Femke being
- 14:55such a good athlete. But ultimately I think it is
- 14:59cool. And then the second umm Justin
- 15:01Rinaldi, who's umm a famous at this stage he's becoming famous
- 15:06at least 800 meter coach from Australia and hope and has
- 15:12coached multiple one 45144 runners over the past two
- 15:17seasons. Think upwards of seven now and
- 15:20so very different parts of the world, two different
- 15:24disciplines. Neither sprints nor jumps.
- 15:25Yeah, totally is short sprints at least.
- 15:28And umm, yeah, far and away kind of the the leaders on on the on
- 15:34the charts. I love that and I think that
- 15:37show, like I think that's a huge positivity of your podcast.
- 15:40If that's what what the top 2 are.
- 15:42Honestly, I would have picked, you know, Boo and Dan and
- 15:45Travis, you know, the three you mentioned, they're like, oh,
- 15:46those are probably it's I really love.
- 15:48That it was third. Yeah.
- 15:49Yeah, it was close. He was moving too far.
- 15:51Behind he draws a big crowd, rightfully so, by the way, love
- 15:55that. You know, our listeners, some
- 15:58have been with you from day one. They've listened to episode 1
- 16:00all the way through today. But most they come in and out
- 16:03depending on who the guest is, time of the year for them,
- 16:06etcetera. But you column, you've been
- 16:09behind the mic on every single one of them.
- 16:11You started a podcast back in late 2020.
- 16:14It's now about to be by the time you're listening to this, it is
- 16:162025. What have you learned being a
- 16:19podcast host? Not necessarily like, oh, you
- 16:22know, Boo taught me the penultimate staff or whatever,
- 16:25but you know, there's a lot of hardware software, there's
- 16:27marketing, there's all, you know, how to get a guest, how to
- 16:29be an interviewer, etcetera. You've already kind of talked
- 16:32about, you know, I've become a better interviewer of like
- 16:34allowing them to talk and share their stories.
- 16:36What have you learned? What's a big lesson you've
- 16:38learned in these past four, almost five years as the podcast
- 16:41host? I would say that people are very
- 16:48generous with their time. I think.
- 16:51I didn't realize how much people would say yes, to be honest.
- 16:56I think not only that, but I think that trickles into
- 17:01afterwards when we talk off air. I can't believe how many have
- 17:07said like, you know, how's your track career going and and like,
- 17:10can I help you in any way? And I think that's amazing
- 17:14really. And I know that's, you know,
- 17:16something that maybe isn't a part of your answer, but when
- 17:20you think about elite coaches out there, you, you do put them
- 17:24on a pedestal and maybe believe that they're so busy and they
- 17:28will be just trying to get in and out and, and they may be
- 17:30rightfully so, you know, but that's, that's really taken me
- 17:34back. I would say, you know, the other
- 17:37answer would have been the interviewing side is really
- 17:39trying to like maximize that. And there's, there's definitely
- 17:44a skill to that, as you mentioned.
- 17:46But if there was anything else outside of it, I think that
- 17:49would be 1. Is that like really change my
- 17:52perception and on people, and particularly people who are
- 17:57really successful? I love that because it says
- 17:59something extremely positive about track and field coaches.
- 18:02So I like that a lot. That's very cool.
- 18:04All right, last two questions here.
- 18:05Colin, where can we find this podcast?
- 18:08Let's start with kind of the maybe the, I won't say the
- 18:10easiest, but maybe the most obvious.
- 18:12Are you on Apple and Spotify? Both of those and those I think
- 18:16Apple would be the most listened platform.
- 18:19Spotify as well. Yep.
- 18:20And yeah, some people use others, like, you know, where
- 18:24Google Podcasts and things like that, they're free.
- 18:26Once you're on Apple, you're on 100 of them at that point.
- 18:29So what? Long as you're on those two big
- 18:31ones there, Are you on anything else like YouTube?
- 18:34Maybe you do this on Twitter? I don't know.
- 18:35Where else might we find the podcast?
- 18:37I am definitely transitioning over to YouTube from the next
- 18:42few months because I had a coach from Turkey approach me recently
- 18:46and say that they love my podcast, but there are coaches
- 18:49around him that can't listen to it because it's not subtitled
- 18:53because it's an audio only podcast.
- 18:56So I told them that wow, thank you for letting me know umm, I
- 19:00will start uploading them on YouTube.
- 19:02I do think it's obviously extra time umm needed to do that, but
- 19:07ultimately I do think that that's a fair request to be
- 19:10honest, if that's what we're about here.
- 19:11So umm yeah, plan on moving to YouTube.
- 19:15I don't know if I'll upload all of the previous ones because
- 19:17I've changed a bunch of laptops since the start of the podcast,
- 19:22but I will definitely be trying to get the ones from from now
- 19:25onwards on there so people can can tune in and get the
- 19:28subtitles. Love that all right, last
- 19:29question here for you. You know, most podcasters, the
- 19:32average podcast listener listens to between 7:00 and 10:00.
- 19:36Different epis, uh, different shows.
- 19:38Uh, I'm assuming because you're a podcast host, maybe you listen
- 19:41to podcast. What is yours?
- 19:42We kind of expand our podcast library here.
- 19:45What's your favorite podcast that you listen to that's not
- 19:47your own and not track related? Yeah, it's, it's funny.
- 19:52It's definitely not my own, certainly not the first few
- 19:55episodes as well. Jeez.
- 19:56I went back one day and listened to those and I was like, it's
- 20:00good because in one hand you have to reflect and be like,
- 20:02look, this is how you improve. I know you're curling your toes
- 20:06right now, but it's, it's really important for your own
- 20:08development. Umm, tough battle to strike
- 20:11really. But umm, I would yeah.
- 20:13I think it actually is funny enough, not track and field or
- 20:16sports performance based anyway. So this one is, is pretty,
- 20:19pretty good for me is umm, the rich roll podcast and he's a
- 20:23ultra marathon runner from I think Colorado or he lives in
- 20:27Colorado and it's really a self development podcast that the
- 20:30topics that go on to umm, on that show are so far and wide.
- 20:35And I think he's a great interviewer and I love listening
- 20:39to not just the guests, but I love listening to him partake as
- 20:42well. To be honest, it's not something
- 20:44I I plan on copying, but I think he's a really smart, umm,
- 20:47curious, intellectual guy. So ritual if you're into just
- 20:52general self development podcasts.
- 20:54And as I said, they really talk about so many different things
- 20:56there. Umm, that would be probably,
- 20:59probably probably my number one right now.
- 21:01It changes, of course, like everyone else's, but that's the
- 21:04one for me right now. I.
- 21:05Love it. That's really cool.
- 21:06All right, listener. Well, as you can tell on your
- 21:08own podcast app, we're almost done with this episode.
- 21:10So here is my challenge to you. Hit pause because we're done
- 21:14here. Hit pause in the same app that
- 21:16you're listening to this right now.
- 21:17Just go to that search button and type in the track and field
- 21:20performance podcast. I bet you could even get there
- 21:22if you type in his name. You see his name in the
- 21:24description of our podcast here. Call him Burke, Bork.
- 21:28Burke. Burke.
- 21:29That's what I thought. Just an Irish Burke, yeah.
- 21:31That's what I thought BBOURKE just put that in the search bar
- 21:35and then here's how I like to like sample new podcasts.
- 21:37If I'm trying to figure out if like is this gonna be a one
- 21:40that's in my subscribing, right? One is I like to listen to their
- 21:43latest episode kind of gives you where they are today and their
- 21:46flavor and style and things like that.
- 21:48But then go back into the library.
- 21:49He's been doing this for four, almost five years, right?
- 21:51So he's got some great guests. You've heard him talk about Boo.
- 21:54You heard him talk about film case coach.
- 21:55You're gonna talk about the half mile or 800 meter coach from
- 21:57Australia. Go check those out as well since
- 22:00those are his most popular. Well, that means other people
- 22:02have found value from it. So go check those out.
- 22:04Make sure you hit the subscribe button on your podcast app for
- 22:07this podcast here. That way you'll know the next
- 22:10episode. You won't miss out on any
- 22:11episodes that he has coming out, but hopefully introducing this
- 22:15show to you will provide value to you this like he provides
- 22:18value for the the rest of the coaching world out there.
- 22:20So Colin, thank you so much for being here, man.
- 22:23I just bless you and hope you continue what you're doing.
- 22:26You're you're flattening the world, my friend, in our sport,
- 22:29and that is a an absolutely great thing.
- 22:30So thank you so much for for being and sharing your show with
- 22:33us today. Thanks Mike.
- 22:35Thanks for having me and and of course, you're the pod father.
- 22:37So thank you for leading the way and doing all that you do.
- 22:40Absolutely. You deserve it, brother.