This week on the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob is speaking to Senior Director of Performance Science at the Kansas City Royals, Austin Driggers.
Although often flying under the radar, Austin is highly respected in the field having come up through the US Olympic Committee system working with winter sport athletes under the tutelage of Brad DeWeese.
This episode kicks off with Austin explaining how the Royals have developed a system which assesses each player throughout the year to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This then helps him and the rest of the team design programmes to keep each athlete fit and competing across the gruelling 180+ game season.
We also chat about how he has tapped into and learnt from other environments such as business. This is a fascinating part of the episode as sport can often seem in a bubble with people looking in but not much going the other way.
If you're aim is to reduce injuries with your athletes, check out this episode with Austin and press play on your chose podcast player.
Main talking points -
How to get players through the academy pathway and into the first team with Luke Jenkinson, Frankie Hunter & Russ Wrigley
Injury risk reduction; isometric training, screening for ACL and groin injuries, and the importance of mobility with Steve Saunders (Director of Science and Medicine at Adelaide Crows)
How to individualise training and nutrition in team sports with Mike Potenza (Director of Strength & Conditioning at San Jose Sharks)
Load management and GPS. Are we missing a piece of the puzzle (?) with Tim Doyle (Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University)
Team sport nutrition, half-time refueling strategies and pre-season vs in-season fueling with Marc Bubbs (Performance Nutrition Lead at Men's Canada Basketball)
Predicting hamstring injuries, reducing hamstring injury risk and hamstring injury rehab with Josh Ruddy, Ryan Timmins & Jack Hickey
Working with paraylympic athletes; creativity, mental health and what training really looks like with Tom Paulson & Luke Sweet
How ready are you athletes to train? HRV, questionnaires and sleep hygiene with Erik Korem (Associate Athletics Director of Student-Athlete High Performance at the College of William and Mary)
Breaking down silos within performance and technical staff with Kyle Skinner (Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach for Olympic Sports at Notre Dame)
Maximising athlete recovery and sleep, and appraising current technology with Shona Halson (Associate Professor at Australian Catholic University)
Hamstring injuries; mechanisms, issues with traditional rehab and reducing injury risk with Jack Hickey (Lecturer in Musculoskeletal & Sports Injury Rehabilitation at ACU)
Benefits and risks of early specialisation in late specialisation sports with Luke Jenkinson (Head of Academy Sports Science & Medicine at Derby County FC)
Embracing chaos and making better decisions in the rehabilitation process with Jarrod Wade (Head of Performance at South Sydney Rabbitohs)
How can the industry do better to create more 'job-ready' graduate coaches with Steve Ingham (Performance Consultant and Director of Supporting Champions)
Working as a strength & conditioning coach in a foreign country with Dave Howarth (Head of Athletic Development at Connacht Rugby)
Lessons learnt from working as a sports scientist in the NFL and MLB with Dave Regan (Former Sports Science Coordinator at the Miami Dolphins and Performance Consultant)
Developing the most influential apps in sports science and what's next with Carlos Balsalobre (Lecturer at UAM Madrid and App Developer)
Training load monitoring in rugby union and managing player workloads in-season with Tom Batchelor (Lead Sports Scientist and Conditioning Coach at Harlequins Rugby)
Working with the countries most promising young football players at Arsenal academy with Paudie Roche (Academy Strength & Conditioning Coach at Arsenal Football Club)
Force vector myth, coaching weightlifting with athletes and spotting movement errors with Dan Cleather (Programme Leader for the MSc in S&C at St Mary's University)
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