How did you get into sport?

Paula Peralta – Winning an Olympic medal as Sports Science & Sports Medicine (SSSM) Lead, National Australian Women’s Basketball Team (Opals).

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Paula Peralta is a one of few Specialist Sports & Exercise Physiotherapist in the world who has worked in over a dozen World Cups, Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic games collectively over her career. Not only has she worked across multiple sports and various athletes within all these major tournaments, but she has also worked with both the Men’s (Boomers) and Women’s (Opals) Australian national basketball team and was part of the special group who went on to win an historic bronze medal with both teams. Paula takes us into the inner sanctum of those incredible moments as well as shares both the technical skills and personal attributes that have allowed her to excel in the world of high performance sport for over 20 years. 

Highlights from the episode…

  • Little may you know, Paula was an AIS netball scholarship holder and after suffering an early ACL injury this led to her being exposed to the cream of the crop of sports physios in Australia at the time.
  • Having held lead positions in various teams that has involved regular travel, a lot of pressure and long hours…How did you not burn out?
  • Although she has had a career filled with many highlights, there are often many “costs” that accompany working in sport. How Paula re-frames these.
  • How Paula secured her first role at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and shares insight of what it’s like to work at multiple Commonwealth, Paralympic and Olympic games.
  • Paula provides unprecedented access to what it was like being part of both the Men’s and Women’s Basketball team Bronze medal winning Olympic games.
  • What support services are available to those countries who attend the games who don’t have medical/physio support?
  • Paula provides a rundown of the services, personnel and the logistics of being able to provide 24 hour support for over 450 Australian athletes over the 16 day period at the Olympics games.
  • How Paula manages her Opals players remotely when they are situated across the globe playing for their respective teams.
  • Who gets final say? The decision making process when the national team and their respective clubs may have differences in opinion in the management of a player. 
  • What screening/monitoring metrics Paula uses with the Opals to evaluate injury risk, player availability,periodising training/game minutes etc.
  • Is there a risk of being “institutionalised” when spending years working in high performance sport and not knowing any other way?
  • Paula shares her excitement about the future of Para and Women’s sport and the opportunities for practitioners and athletes in this space. 


People mentioned:

  • Peter Blanch: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3FHpOBIanMmbQRkx9YjkUx
  • Keren Faulkner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keren-faulkner-b56b0296/
  • Kate Mahony: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TthNoykn5kz4El5jjZxjL
  • Andrea Mosler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-mosler-40872a37/ 


Paula Peralta contact details: 

  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-peralta-b49bbb73/
  • X: https://x.com/peralta_pj 


Host: Luis Resa

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How did you get into sport?By Luis Resa