The Athletic Evolution Podcast

Shannon Archer made her senior Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast in 2018 which saw her finish 10th in the Individual All-Around event. She also achieved 5th in the Vault final and competed in the Team Event helping the team secure a 5th place finish. At the 2022 Birmingham Games, Shannon claimed Scotland's first ever individual women's Commonwealth Games artistic gymnastics medal by claiming...

Beach volleyball was the hardest sport that Jess Grimson ever tried and that struggle for mastery has driven her to a second Commonwealth Games. Initially bound for a college soccer scholarship in the USA, the Leeds star spiked for the first time aged 13 at the behest of her pioneering P.E teacher. The four-time British champion reached the quarter-finals at Gold Coast 2018 with Victoria Palmer an...

Jake Henry is a professional rugby player, recently representing Scotland in Rugby 7’s at the HSBC World Series and the 2022 Commonweath Games in Birmingham. In this episode Jake discusses: The challenge of being a student athlete. The Highs and Lows in his career so far. How he dealt with being injured and going from "the bunker to the gym and back" during the covid restrictions. How a nasty achi...

Kelly Fillingham is a Performance Coach and Coach Developer. She is currently employed by Scottish Hockey as the West Regional Development Manager and the Head of Scottish Hockey Girls Emerging Talent Squad, as well as leading on the BRAVE Academy Program. She is also the Director of 360 Hockey. In this episode Kelly discusses: Her hockey career, playing in the UK and USA and being a "student of c...

This episode is a recording of the LTAD Chat on Training the Adolescent Female, hosted by Joe Eisenmann with guests Erica Suter and Elisabeth Oehler. Erica Suter is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and has a Masters in Exercise Science and Sport Performance Enhancement. As an athlete, she pcaptained the soccer team at Johns Hopkins University and was a 2x Academic All Americ...

Professor Mark De Set Croix has published over 100 articles and presented at over 100 conferences across the globe. He works predominantly in football, identifying injury risk via screening and implementing prevention programmes. A key focus of his work is to help coaches develop their understanding of prevention strategies. After undertaking his teacher training degree he knew he had an interest...

This episode is a recording of the LTAD Chat on Speed Development, hosted by Joe Eisenmann with guests Tony Holler and John Garrish. Tony Holler is the track coach at Plainfield North High School outside of Chicago, Illinois. Tony retired from teaching chemistry after 38 years in the classroom and has 40 years of coaching experience in American Football, Basketball and Track & Field. Tony is m...

In this episode, the LTAD Network Podcast takes a slightly different turn as I invite James Bakerto give a preview of the upcoming 2022 LTAD Network Conference, taking place on July 9-10th at Hartpury University.  In this episode we cover:  The benefits of Live events vs Online events. What audience the LTAD Network Conference is designed for. An overview of some of the Keynote Speakers,...

Aimee Ellen O'Keeffe is a Performance Nutritionist at Manchester United Women's team and owner of Committed Nutrition Ltd, her own private nutrition coaching company. Aimee is passionate about the female athlete, particularly breaking down barriers to fuelling and changing attitudes towards carbohydrates. Aimee has carried out a lot of research since starting in her role at Manchester United, anal...

Dr Liz Durden-Myers is a physical education researcher and teacher educator with over 15 years' experience within education across the primary, secondary and higher education sectors. She is currently a Senior Lecturer In Physical Education at the University of Gloucestershire & Bath Spa University, Managing Director & Co-Founder at PE Scholar & Scholary and Past Chair of the International Physica...

Dan Howells is a high performance coach, with a career spanning over 15 years of work in elite sport, both in the UK and the USA. Dan is a certified Strength & Conditioning coach and has worked with: Olympic and Paralympic Programmes, US and GB Ski Team, English Institute of Sport, Wasps Rugby Club, England Rugby 7s, Team GB Rugby 7s (2016 and 2020 Olympics) and Houston Astros MLB Club. As wel...

Ashley Jones is a rugby strength and conditioning coach who has worked at the highest levels of the game for the last 30 years across 4 continents. He was involved with the physical preparation of the Crusaders (Super XV competition), New Zealand All Blacks, Australian Wallabies, Panasonic Rugby in Japan, Edinburgh Rugby in Scotland and the Samoan Rugby Union, prior to joining the Houston Saber ca...

Dr Sean Cumming is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Bath, as well as a consultant for the Premier League, Football Association, Lawn Tennis Association and Bath Rugby.  In this podcast Sean discusses: The differences between Growth, Maturation, PHV PWV. How these differ between males and females. The effect maturation has on physical attributes like speed,...

Dan Noble is the Director of Hockey at Upper Canada College and Former Director of Athlete Performance & Development at The Hill Academy. He is also the Director of Performance at Oshawa Generals and Halifax Thunderbirds as well as the owner of Noble Sports & Performance. He is an Athletic Development Coach, Speaker & Consultant who works with athletes and organizations from the minor, internation...

David Johnson is an Academy Sports Scientist at West Ham United and previously Academy S&C coach at AFC Bournemouth. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Bath investigating Training Load in Academy Footballers. He holds an MRes in Health and Wellbeing at The University of Bath and a BSc Exercise and Sports Science graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University. In this episode David discus...

Dr Sean Cumming is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Bath, as well as a consultant for the Premier League, Football Association, Lawn Tennis Association and Bath Rugby. He previously provided "An idiot's guide to Growth, Maturation and Biobanding" in Season 1, Episode 11 of the podcast.  In this episode Sean discusses: Some of the interesting research proje...

Pratik Patel is the former Director of Performance Nutrition and Assistant S&C with the New York Giants in the NFL for 4 years. Prior to that, Pratik was the Director of Sports Nutrition at University of Oregon, Sports Dietician at Michigan State and interned at the Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals.  In this episode Pratik discusses: His own eating and exercise be...

Joel Brannigan is an experienced coach and manager, having worked in strength and conditioning since his retirement from professional rugby in 2004, with a career that say him playing for Edinburgh, London Welsh RFC and Newcastle Falcons RFC and representing Scotland at international level. Accredited in 2007, Joel has worked with success across a diverse range of organisations and has a depth of...

Sophie is the Director of Strength and Conditioning at Brisbane Boys’ College in Australia. She has spent many years working in the youth athletic development space and also has experience in a professional sporting capacity. Her current role at Brisbane Boys’ College sees her responsible for the implementation and continued improvement of sport specific S&C as well as general long-term athlet...

John Noonan is a performance coach, lecturer and business owner, he has over 15 years experience working with youth, senior and international athletes across various professional sports including Olympic medalists and National champions. In 2018 John founded his business Noonan Performance were he now works as a performance coach consultant to elite athletes and corporate clients, as well as runni...

Michael Boyle is the co-owner of Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, and the co-founder of Certified Functional Strength Coach. Boyle is also one of the worlds’ foremost educators in the areas of performance training, personal training and athletic rehabilitation. Boyle has been involved in training and rehabilitation with a wide range of athletes, including stars in every major professional spo...

Matt McInnes Watson is a performance coach and specialist in track and field, speed, power and plyometrics. Matt is the owner of Plus Plyos, a coaching business that provides plyometric programs and education. He is studying for a PhD in Plyometrics whilst teaching in the United Arab Emirates and coaching athletes from the U.K. and U.S.  In this episode Matt discusses:  His initial interest in ply...

Derek Evely has taken a career path unique in Olympic sport. As an athletics coach, he has coached professionally at all levels along the developmental continuum and is widely regarded as a foremost expert in both youth development training / programming and elite training methodology. As a coach he has produced three World Junior Championship medalists, of which two went on to become Olympic Meda...

Des Ryan works for Setanta College as Director of Coaching & Performance. Des is one of the leading youth coaches and performance managers in sport and a world-renowned practitioner and speaker in the field of youth athletic development. At Setanta College, Des will contribute to the Colleges mission to be recognized in Ireland and Abroad as a leading provider of human performance and sport scienc...

Elisabeth Oehler is a strength coach who worked for the German Weightlifting Federation from 2017-2020 as manager of the youth department and later Head of Talent Identification. She's a licensed weightlifting coach (high performance) by the German Olympic Sports Confederation and holds several qualifications in youth development and strength & conditioning. In 2021 she started her own business co...