Pacey Performance Podcast

This week’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast is Adam Owen, a man who has had more experience than most as a coach, sports scientist, performance director and consultant at numerous football clubs around Europe and the rest of the world. Starting as a player at Wrexham, Adam has coached at Rangers, Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, Servette, Lechia Gdansk, Benfica, Hebei Fortune and the Wales national team when they reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016.

With this experience, Adam gives us a superb overview of what it’s like to be a leading coach or assistant manager in professional football. Adam talks about the inner workings of coaching, such as man management, what a coaching qualification teaches us (and what it doesn’t), and how coaches can marry both the physical and technical side of the game. With several publications to his name, Adam explains how to take this profession beyond the academic. Simply hit the play button now to discover all this and much more.

On this week’s podcast:

• Why it benefits coaches and sports scientists to have a deeper understanding of football

This week’s Pacey Performance Podcase sees Rob joined by Sean Cumming; Professor of Paediatric Exercise at the University of Bath. He’s also been conducting a lot of work with the Lawn Tennis Association, Premier League, and the Football Association regarding the growth and development of young athletes. This is exactly what he speaks about this week, both in terms of physical and mental development.

For example, Sean discusses how a young athlete’s development can be shaped by the selection biases surrounding a particular sport, and how late and early development can be both beneficial and a drawback. Sean and Rob also discuss how training – both individually and as a group – can be adapted so everyone can meet their potential. This includes how to monitor maturation both with and without a budget – a must for many coaches at local and community sports clubs. For all this and much more, hit the play button now to hear more insight from this superb sports scientist.

This week’s topics:

• Selection biases in tennis, and how they apply in other sports

This week’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast is sports psychologist Dan Abrahams. Dan became a psychologist following a stint as a professional golfer with an interest in the mental side of the sport. After calling time on his playing career, he became a coach and followed that up by gaining a master’s degree in sports psychology. He’s been working in this capacity for 16 years now, including for England Rugby, England Golf, and numerous Premier League football clubs.

Following the recent Olympic and Paralympic Games, sports psychology has been in the spotlight more than ever. Dan discusses the impact this has had on the subject, including how an athlete’s mental state can be rated on a three-stage ‘traffic light’ system depending on their current needs. He also addresses the theory that you cannot coach attitude, effort and energy - although the athlete is responsible for their own attitude, Dan explains how coaches and sports psychologists can create an environment that engages athletes and helps them maintain all-important intensity when training. If you’re interested in the mental side of coaching and sports science, then this week’s podcast is for you.

This week’s topics:

• How sports psychology is currently split between athlete performance, wellbeing and mental health

Matt Van Dyke joins Rob on this week’s Pacey Performance Podcast. As the Director of Sports Science for the Houston Texans, Matt is responsible for the management of training loads and other performance aspects implemented to each individual athlete in order to maximise performance and readiness. Prior to this, Matt has worked at the University of Texas and University of Denver, designing and implementing speed, strength, conditioning, and mobility training programs for men’s lacrosse, alpine ski, baseball, tennis, swimming and track and field.

Matt talks to Rob about performance pillars, testing, and monitoring – subjects that he has recently written about in one of his many books, articles and blogs. This includes the metrics that sports scientists and coaches should be looking at in regards to GPS data, and the six physical performance qualities he looks for when measuring improvement. Matt further explains how to incorporate specialist training when faced with constraints, such as time.

There’s also some outstanding insight into a range of exercises and techniques, including triphasic training, oscillatory training, isometric exercises as a part of that, and understanding physics when it comes to power development. Matt also gives us some examples of further reading in these areas, which will be invaluable to any coach.

On the podcast this week:

• The metrics to be looking at when it comes to GPS

This week’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast is John Wagle, Director of Performance Science and Player Development at the Kansas City Royals in Major League Baseball. Previously, he earned his PhD at East Tennessee State University, worked at DePaul University as a strength and conditioning coach, and spent some time prior to that as a baseball coach. John is here to talk about eccentric training – a subject he covered extensively in the PhD..

Eccentric training exists on a continuum, encompassing a large variety of methods from tempo training, to flywheel inertial training, accenuated eccentric training (AEL) and playometric training. John's PhD focused on AEL so discusses why it is specifically beneficial. If you’d like to know the timings and potential exercise selection that can bring greater muscle strength and recovery even to ‘lower end’ athletes, then this week’s podcast is for you.

Topics this week:

• The benefits of eccentric training

This week’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast is Director of Performance for the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA, Daniel Bove. Daniel has previously worked for the Atlanta Hawks as their assistance strength coach, before moving on to the Phoenix Suns and then New Orleans in his current role. In line with his new book, Daniel talks about how to use the quadrant system as a visualisation tool in strength and conditioning training, including how it can be used effectively in regular, day-to-day coaching.

This includes the outputs that can be created, how to manage quadrants when games are close together, and also force plates and their use in the NBA - giving some insight into plyometrics in a sport where effective jumping is an absolute necessity. To learn all this and much more, hit the pay button now.

This week’s topics:

• The use of quadrants as a visualisation tool

Damian Harper is our guest on this week’s Pacey Performance Podcast, bringing with him a wealth of wide-ranging experience in coaching and strength and conditioning. Damian is currently working in the Institute of Coaching and Performance at UCLAN, supervising students on professional masters and doctorates in elite performance. He’s also a member of UCLAN’s newly developed football performance hub, developing the human braking research group following his PhD.

Prior to his time with UCLAN, Damian lectured in exercise physiology at York St John University, coached at the Bobby Charlton Soccer School, and earned his master’s degree while working with sports clubs in his local area. One of which was St. Albans Rugby Club, where he developed the 10/05 repeated jump test. This test, amongst other jump testing options, and deceleration testing and training, is what he discusses today.

With a huge depth of academic and first-hand experience of strength and conditioning harking back to his days as a footballer, there are very few individuals better placed to give their insight into S&C. Listen to this week podcast below to learn more about how Damian builds effective deceleration and change of direction, without succumbing to injury.

This week’s topics:

• 10/5 repeat jumps and why Damian uses them over other options

Cory Schlesinger is this week’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast. He has over 20 years’ experience in basketball, including 4 years as a player and 15 as a coach at college level before moving on to his current role as Head of Strength and Conditioning with the Phoenix Suns in the NBA. With the experience of both playing and coaching at college level, Cory discusses what he’d do differently in terms of attitude if he had that opportunity again.

Cory also discusses the techniques he tends to use, including his love of machines in strength and conditioning, and how sports science helps him get the best out of his players. This also includes some inside information about how the Phoenix Suns use force plates and aqua bags effectively.

Finally, Cory talks about Instagram and how he started to build a personal brand online. For all this and much, much more, listen to the podcast to gain some insight into what it’s like to coach promising and top-level athletes for over two decades.

On this week’s podcast:

• What Cory would do differently if he had his time as a player again

Luke Vella is Rob’s guest on this week’s Pacey Performance Podcast. Luke has recently returned to Australia following his time with Edinburgh Rugby, the University of Bath, and Olympic track cycling in Malaysia. While in Bath, he coached multiple sports, showing that in addition to his roles in Rugby and Aussie Rules, he certainly has several strings to his strength and conditioning bow.

With a background in rehab, Luke lets us know how to manage tendon health by looking out for the tell-tale symptoms that lead to tendon injuries, and how blood flow restriction training can help relieve pain.

For anyone looking for a deep-dive into rehab techniques involving blood flow restriction and improving muscle hypertrophy, speed and strength, then this week’s podcast is for you. He’ll also tell you how to plan your rehab programme. Hit play now to learn Luke’s rehab tips of the trade!

On the podcast this week:

• Why switching between Australia and the UK was a good learning experience

On this week’s Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob speaks to James Hanisch of Hawkin Dynamics. James is the former Director of Performance Science at the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL, and with a Super Bowl win as a coach to his name his wisdom and knowledge will be ideal for any sports scientist or aspiring trainer.

James talks to us about what it was like making the transition between Australia and the United States, both professionally and culturally. American football fans will also be interested to know about his role in the 2018 Super Bowl win for the Eagles, and why togetherness and a long-term coaching staff can make all the difference in a successful team.

James also gets in the technical side of coaching, with tips on how to maximise power output, stamina and analyse data on a much smaller budget than the large franchises can afford. He also goes into detail on the methods the Eagles used at that time, and how it led to success on one of the biggest stages in sport. To learn how, hit the play button now.

On the podcast this week:

• Making the transition between sports and cultures