About Me

Profile

Profile

I love working with athletes and coaches. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing them challenge themselves, try something different, and learn how to succeed.

I got hooked working with athletes during my master’s degree over 15 years ago and haven’t looked back. I was lucky enough to complete my postgraduate studies with Prof Joan Vickers at the University of Calgary where I completed the first studies in gaze behaviour and Quiet Eye of elite hockey goalies. Six days after finishing my PhD I hopped on a plane to Melbourne, Australia to take on my first academic job at Victoria University. There I taught courses in skill acquisition and began an applied research program working in cricket, golf, and Australian rules football.

After a successful stint in academia, the next stop in my journey brought me to Canberra and the Australian Institute of Sport. At the AIS, I managed the Skill Acquisition department and was the National Lead in Skill Acquisition. Our amazing team provided world-class support to National team athletes and coaches as they prepared for success on an international stage.

These experiences have shown me how valuable skill acquisition concepts can be for coaches and athletes and I’ve seen, first-hand, the positive impacts that they can have on performance. My goal in starting Chiron Performance is to bring my passion and experience with applied skill acquisition to coaches and athletes who want to try something different, who know there are better ways of training, and who want to LEARN TO WIN.

Check out my LinkedIn page for a complete CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-panchuk/

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Neuro-motor Psychology & Motor Learning (2008) – University of Calgary.
  • Master of Science, Neuromotor Control (2005) – University of Calgary
  • Accredited Sport Scientist (ASpS) Level 2 – Exercise & Sport Science Australia

Research

I have an extensive history of research in applied and theoretical areas of skill acquisition. I have published over 30 peer-reviewed articles, written 3 book chapters, and received almost $1,000,000 in funding to support my research. I’ve also supervised and mentored a number of amazing PhD and Honours students who have gone on to pursue careers in academia and the sports world.

My research interests really lie in how athletes use information from the competitive environment to support the amazing performances that they are capable of. I am very interested in the role vision plays in performance and in a particular Quiet Eye. I learned how to research Quiet Eye from the founder of the concept, Prof Joan Vickers, and have done a number of projects on how Quiet Eye can be assessed and trained in athletes. I am also interested in how technology can be used to train athletes mental and physical skills.

Have a look at my ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Derek_Panchuk.

Here’s a snap shot of some of my recent research:

Panchuk, D., Klusemann, M. J., & Hadlow, S. M. (2018). Exploring the effectiveness of immersive video for training decision-making capability in elite, youth basketball players. Frontiers in Psychology: Movement Science & Sport Psychology, 9(2315). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02315.

Haldow, S., Panchuk, D., Mann, D. L., Portus, M. R., & Abernethy, B. (2018). Modified perceptual training in sport: A new classification framework. Journal of Science & Medicine in Sport, 21(9), 950-958. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.011.

Klostermann, A. W., Panchuk, D., & Farrow, D. (2018). Perception-action coupling in complex game play: exploring the Quiet Eye in contested basketball jump shots. Journal of Sports Sciences, 36(9), 1054-1060. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2017.1355063.