The 2018 Roundtable features four of the emerging leaders in Australasian strength & conditioning: Dr. Michael Speranza, Matthew Green, Paul Downes & David Watts. In the first part of the roundtable, we examine strength & power development.

ABOUT THE ROUNDTABLE

Paul Downes | Paul is the current Head Strength and Conditioning Coach with the Auckland Rugby Union in New Zealand. Prior to this he spent 4 years with the Hurricanes Super Rugby Franchise as well as leading the Wellington Rugby Academy between 2008 and 2010. More recently he was the Head of Strength and Conditioning with the Cardiff Blues in Wales between 2014 and 2016. He holds a Masters in Applied Sport and Exercise Science and is accredited with both the UKSCA and ASCA (Professional Coach Scheme – Elite Level 2).

Matthew Green | Matt is the current High Performance Manager of the Brisbane Lions Women Team. Prior to this he spent 7 years as the High Performance Manager with AFL Queensland's Talent Pathway programs. He also has extensive experience as an Exercise Physiologist in post operative orthopaedic rehabilitation and return to sport. Matt holds a special interest in load management of Women's AFL.

Dr. Michael Speranza | Michael is a Strength and Conditioning Coach at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) where he has worked over numerous sports including football, rowing, basketball, athletics and winter sports. Prior to his tenure at the AIS he worked at a semi-professional level in rugby league and netball. As well as a strength and conditioning coach, Michael is passionate about research in the field, which led him to complete a Phd through the Australian Catholic University, examining tackling ability in rugby league players from a strength and conditioning perspective.

David Watts | David began his strength and conditioning career at the Queensland Academy of Sport and worked across a broad range of Olympic sports from 2010 to 2016. Following the Rio Olympics, he moved into a rehabilitation and assistant strength and conditioning role at the Geelong Cats Football Club where he works presently. David holds a masters in strength and conditioning from ECU and is accredited as an Elite Level 3 coach with the ASCA. He maintains an active involvement with the ASCA, regularly presenting courses and actively mentoring younger coaches.

Quotes

"You can't just lifting with hypertrophy reps - have to back it up with work in kitchen"

"Our job as S&C is to keep them on the park to allow coaches to do their job"

"Transfer is really subtle after the first 2 years and you have to make sure you hit on the specific things that that individual needs"

"Experienced players will tell me there is a bare minimum you need in the gym but after that an extra 20-30kg on squat or bench isn't the difference in a game"

Shownotes

1) Underlying philosophy for strength and power for each coach

2) Assessing strength and power - making it specific to the individual and team

3) Weekly programming breakdowns at each coach's respective organisation

4) How each coach periodises strength & power work

5) Force velocity profiling and the reasons coaches will or will not implement it

6) Getting transfer from gym to field and how to improve transfer

7) What each coach is going to implement for strength and power in the next 12-24 months

People Mentioned

1) Ashley Jones

2) Selwyn Grittih

3) Dirk Spitz