Simon Harries is an accomplished performance coach, holding a PhD in Human Physiology from The University of Newcastle and accredited as an ASCA Elite L3 S&C coach. He currently serves as the Head of Strength & Conditioning at the NSW Institute of Sport, where he leads a team of Strength & Conditioning coaches to develop and deliver world-class performance support to Olympic sport athletes. With over 15 years’ experience in high performance sport across strength & conditioning, rehabilitation and sports science positions, Simon has coached elite athletes and teams across multiple sports, including AFL, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Rugby Sevens, Water polo, and a range of individual event sports.

QUOTES

“Depending on your context, different rehabilitation models will suit and be more applicable than one or another”

“The roles in rehab are dependent on the people in each discipline, not necessarily what disciplines are involved”

“The main friction point in any working relationship is who is prescribing, who is coaching it and who makes the changes if they need to be made so to establish that at the onset helps a lot.”

“Rehab drivers are often the unsaid reasons why certain decision are made in rehab”

“Obviously when people talk about week-to-week change and acute to chronic ratios, that almost goes out the window in early parts of rehab otherwise the athlete would come back in 3 years’ time.”

SHOWNOTES

1) How Simon’s career has progressed from PE teaching to the head of S&C at NSWIS

2) The emerging role of a rehabilitation strength & conditioning coach

3) Using the RACI model (responsible, accountable, consulted, informed) to get all staff involved in a rehabilitation of an athlete on the same page

4) Examples of KPIs across different stages in rehabilitation

5) The four rehab drivers: load, performance, medical and logistics

6) End-stage rehab KPIs and volume benchmarks for running based field sports

7) Shared decision making and communication with coaches

8) Different rehab models and their suitability in different environments

9) The importance of biomechanics for S&C coaches

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Tim Rogers

Dan Cleather