Christopher Watts is currently the senior coordinator of the RECON unit in the NSW Police Force. Prior to this he was the Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach with the Royal Australian Air Force – Human Performance Optimization (HPO) team and other positions include Athlete Development Manager at St Andrews Cathedral School and Strength & Conditioning Coach for Wests Tigers NSW Cup. He has a Masters in Data Science and a Masters in Strength & Conditioning from Edith Cowan University and is an Accredited ASCA Professional L2 S&C Coach. Alongside his civilian career, Chris maintains a part-time military career with the Australian Army Reserves.

QUOTES

“So my first goal when I arrived here in Wagga was to really make sure that the PTIs understood that I'm not here to do their job, I'm here to actually find ways to highlight the good things that they do”

“We try not to use the word sport science or sports physiotherapy or sports nutrition in this tactical domain because there will be people that will automatically turn off and some of the early pushback we'd get is this isn't sport and we're not dealing with athletes, so don't talk to us about sports science. So we change the terminology and most of the time you'll hear us say it's performance science.”

“if the PTIs can implement three tailored plyometric regressions and progressions for a group of 60 recruits, if they can do that comfortably with no logistical hiccups, the you can optimize the accuracy of how we are breaking them down into different groups.”

“So our job is not just about improving what they do as a recruit, but it's really essentially providing more tools in the toolbox for the aviator. So human performance should be the responsibility of the individual and they (the aviators) should be taking full ownership of their own human performance.”

“What we’re trying to do is make sure that they're not just fit for service, but fit for life. And when they're finished with their Air Force career, whether that's four years or 25 years later, they have a foundation that can carry them long after their military career”

SHOWNOTES

1) Christopher’s background and journey in tactical strength & conditioning

2) What it looks like for an initial recruit coming into the Royal Australian Air Force 1RTU and how the performance staff that support the RAAF staff

3) The relationship and interactions between performance staff and physical training instructors (PTIs)

4) The evolution of gold standard and best practice in the RAAF 1RTU physical training

5) Using force plates to make data-driven decisions about training modifications for recruits

6) The role of education in improving RAAF employee’s physical performance and “raising the floor” across the RAAF workforce

7) The importance of being able to simplify the complex with S&C

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Phil Moreland

Steve Smith

Scott Ryder