One Track Mind

Sport scientists face one of the most rapidly changing roles in all of sport. This episode proposes 10 adaptive tools -   new types of training, skill sets, operational processes or even mindsets - that sport scientists can call upon to not only help adapt to changing conditions in their workplace, but also to thrive and take advantage of these anticipated changes. It borrows from concepts introdu...

All good things must come to an end. For athletes, that end can be sudden and far sooner than hoped. After years of intense dedication and sacrifice, the average career of a high performance athlete lasts no more than a few years. So what comes next? And how can we help them prepare for the emotional, physical and financial toll that comes with that final whistle call? Today, host Professor Sam Ro...

What does a good video game have to do with improving athlete performance? On the face of it , perhaps not much. But if we dig a little deeper into the science and design behind video games, we can see the incredible power that modern games have in facilitating learning, through engaging the participant in a manner that is enjoyable and interactive. On this mini episode, host Professor Sam Roberts...

Just like the economy, the weather, or traffic, sport is deeply complex. And we don't just mean that it has lots of elements or that it's difficult to understand, we're talking specifically about what's called a complex system – have a listen to our mini episode on this topic for a bit of a primer! When you're dealing with a complex system, you've got a whole lotta mo...

We’ve had a lot of fantastic guests on the show thus far and now’s your chance to get to know some of them better through a segment we call ‘5 in 5’. In this mini episode, we ask guests to answer five questions about themselves, their career and of course the future of sport - all in less than 5 minutes.  Join host Professor Sam Robertson as he speaks with FIFA's Nicolas Evans , San Antonio S...

Analytics is arguably one of sport's fastest growing and most exciting fields. It's something people in sport never seem to stop talking about, but do we all agree on what it actually means? To help sift through the mud and understand what we should really be asking of our sports analysts, host Professor Sam Robertson speaks to two industry legends to figure out where sports analytics ca...

Complexity is a topic that is growing in popularity across sport. Before we get into making a case for complexity’s importance to sport on our upcoming main episode on this topic, we’re taking the opportunity on this mini episode to actually define the term.  Luckily, recent work from a UK group, the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus has already done a lot of the heavy lifti...

Behind every high performance athlete is a sprawling network of support staff. Physios, coaches, performance analysts, sports scientists, the list goes on and on. So what does the dream staff team look like?  How can we find the right spread across disciplines, the perfect number of people, the ideal hierarchy and structure, and get everyone working together well to give the athletes the best chan...

For modern day professional athletes, the idea of your every waking (and sleeping) moment being tracked and measured isn't so far-fetched. On today's episode, we dig into when, why and how athlete tracking can be done effectively, and when it's taken too far. This week's expert guests are Stuart Morgan , the Lead of  Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Innovation...

Innovation is certainly one of sport's favourite buzzwords, but what does innovation in the high performance sporting world actually look like? On this episode, host Sam Robertson looks into how we can actually make innovation happen and what sort of innovation should we be looking for. Our first guest is Albert Mundet – Director of the Barça Innovation Hub and Head of Knowledge at FC Barcelo...

Injury – it's one of the biggest problems plaguing the sports industry. Aside from the obvious potential for physical pain, injuries are to blame for a lot of shortened careers, lost matches, and millions of dollars in potentially avoidable spending. It's no surprise then that sports organisations are eager to find that magical technology – the one that can predict (and avoid) injuries w...

We talk a lot about technology on this show – how it’s used, why it’s used, and the impact it has across all different types and levels of sport. We know that enormous amounts of time and money are spent developing tech that helps us track and train athletes – but it’s certainly not perfect. So what’s missing? And what are the holy grail technologies that sports scientists can only dream of? On th...

Sport reflects life – all of it's beauty,  and all of its ugliness too. But is it a two-way street? What role does sport play in shaping society? Sporting organisations and athletes are in a powerful position to effect change across all manner of fundamental issues, so how can they do that and how much responsibility lies on their shoulders? To break things down, host Professor Sam Robertson...

Despite our ever-increasing ability to measure the world around us in minute detail, predicting the future with total accuracy is impossible. But that's not to say we can't identify plausible scenarios for which we should prepare. So how do we do that in sport and what do those scenarios look like? To break things down, host Professor Sam Robertson is joined first by Dr Michael Linley ....

Coaching is something we've long seen as distinctly human – a powerful and emotional exchange between coach and athlete. But like almost every other role in sport, coaching is now being augmented by technology. Is this non-stop stream of data helping our coaches and athletes? Or is it getting in the way of what really matters? To break things down, host Professor Sam Robertson is joined first...

We all have different ideas of what it means to be 'fair' and who we need to be fair to. Is the way we currently do things in sport fair? Will it ever be? Is it possible to actually be fair to athletes, fans, owners, and the sport itself, all at the same time? And who should be making and enforcing these decisions? To break things down, host Professor Sam Robertson is joined by Professor...

Society is staring down the barrel at major changes to how we work, and it's no different in sport. If you're currently part of the sports ecosystem, or preparing to enter it, how will your role change over the coming decades? To break things down, host Professor Sam Robertson is joined by Dr Patrick Ward and David Joyce . Patrick is the Director of Research and Development for NFL'...

What, if any, are the limits for artificial intelligence in sport? Will AI help take sport to new levels of exciting never-before-seen gameplay? Or will it cause sport to no longer be considered ‘sport’ at all? To break things down, host Professor Sam Robertson is joined by two brilliant guests. First up is Dr Ellen Broad , renowned artificial intelligence expert and author of much-awarded book &a...

Coming December 3rd, it's the first episode of Track and Victoria University's brand new podcast, One Track Mind. Brought to you by a team of leading sports science researchers, One Track Mind digs into the real forces, issues and innovations shaping the future of sport. Each episode, host Professor Sam Robertson asks a big question, and gets help answering it from some of the greatest m...