Leicester City’s league title was widely seen as one of the biggest upsets in sporting history. But was it really that surprising? Christian Barton (La Trobe University) talks to Dr Paul Balsom, the Head of Sports Science at Leicester City and analyst with the Swedish National Football Team.

In this podcast, Paul explains how teamwork and culture led to players avoiding the medical room. We then go on to discuss the role of evidence-based medicine in sports, and how the ideas employed by Leicester can be transitioned between sports. Lastly, the conversation moves on to the ongoing season, which will see an increased number of matches for the team and how to manage this load.

Link to the upcoming SMA Conference where you can see Dr Balsom: http://tinyurl.com/jx739en

And a podcast with one of the other keynote speakers: http://tinyurl.com/zaoncqq

Timeline:

0.40 - The key factors behind the success of Leicester.

2.00 - How do you achieve good communication in a football club?

3.55 - Keeping all the players fit - by putting responsibility onto them!

5.40 - Optimising performance - what role does EBM have in sport?

7.22 - What medical teams can learn from each other.

9.02 - How to manage an injury free rate with increased load - looking at the new season.