How did you get into sport?
This is the “How did you get into sport?” podcast where we explore the ins and outs of working in high performance sport.
These are conversations with leaders in the industry about their journey and most importantly how they got to where they are. Working in professional sport is one of the most sought after yet highly competitive industries with limited professional organisations offering opportunities to work at the highest level of their respective sports.
This podcast was created on the back of countless conversations with a diverse range of experienced professionals overly frustrated yet still highly motivated to work in their dream role and asking the question “How did you get to work in professional sport and what did you have to do to get there?” Host Luis Resa is a Sports Physiotherapist who has worked in various elite professional organisation both in Australia and internationally.
In each episode, Luis has deep conversations with Sports Physiotherapist, S&C coaches, Head coaches, High Performance Managers and other leaders in the field of elite sport to discuss what it takes to excel in the world of sport as well as diving deeply into the intricacies of what got their foot in the door of some of the world’s most desirable roles.
Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. In the meantime, enjoy a deep conversation and learn the specific do’s and don’ts of both securing and surpassing expectations in the field of high performance sport.
How did you get into sport?
Tim Gabbett – Top 25 most impactful Sports Scientists of all time.
Tim Gabbett is one of the prominent leaders having spent over 3 decades in high performance sport where both his research and expertise has impacted many around the globe in the area of load management and injury prevention. What some may not know is that he started his career struggling to find any job in sport and eventually went on to work with the Tasmanian Institute of Sport, Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) and the Brisbane Broncos (NRL). This is a story of someone who now spends his time consulting, training and presenting to some of the biggest names in world sport and through a lot of setbacks, uncertainty, perseverance and an unrivalled work ethic has gone on to be named in the top 25 most impactful sport scientist of all time.
Highlights from the episode…
- What inspired Tim to pursue a career in sport science during a time where there were no sports scientist jobs in the industry.
- Tim shares the number one thing early practitioners are missing when it comes to working in high performance sport.
- Even though he was degree qualified, Tim shares some of the struggles early in his career trying to get any job in sport and even having to be a labourer for a period just to support his wife and 3 kids.
- How Tim has dealt with pressure, setbacks, occasional doubt and uncertainty during his 30-year career.
- Having transitioned from QAS to the Brisbane Broncos Tim discusses the differences between “public sports” (institutes, academies of sport) and “Private sports” (professional sporting organisations).
- Tim shares why he chose to have a side hustle of consulting while working full time in sport and how it developed into full time consulting for various clubs around the world.
- With many looking to utilise their expertise and start up their own business, Tim shares some advice and cautionary tales around his transition into consultancy.
- We discuss the Acute:Chronic load research and chat about whether we actually know specifically why an athlete becomes more robust to injury? Is it the physical adaptations or mental adaptations?
- What moderators Tim has found that can help athletes cope with acute spikes in loads and if addressed could actually effect the outcome of injury.
- An effective way to avoid spikes in load is to avoid the preceding trough in training. Off-season and are we inevitably creating a trough leading into a spike a load?
- Do we put too much emphasis on reducing injuries in sport?
- “Do you want your athlete back quickly or do you want them back permanently?” What you might need to consider when returning a player back to play post injuries.
- Tim shares a special and funny story of his Dad’s response to years of work that went into finally publishing his research and what Tim learnt from that moment.
- As a sports scientist what percentage do you lean currently on data/statistics/measures versus intuition/gut feel/instinct when it comes to decision making in sport? His answer will surprise you!
People mentioned:
- Peter Blanch: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3FHpOBIanMmbQRkx9YjkUx
Tim Gabbett contact details:
- Website: https://gabbettperformance.com.au/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-gabbett-82466899/
Host: Luis Resa
Contact me on:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-resa-a975196b/
- Email: luis.resa@outlook.com
Thanks for listening and please leave a review. If you would like more information on anything mentioned in this episode simply send me an email.
