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Paula Peralta is a one of few Specialist Sports & Exercise Physiotherapist in the world who has worked in over a dozen World Cups, Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic games collectively over her career. Not only has she worked across multiple sports and various athletes within all these major tournaments, but she has also worked with both the Men’s (Boomers) and Women’s (Opals) Australian national basketball team and was part of the special group who went on to win an historic bronze medal with both teams. Paula takes us into the inner sanctum of those incredible moments as well as shares both the technical skills and personal attributes that have allowed her to excel in the world of high performance sport for over 20 years.

Highlights from the episode…

• Little may you know that Paula was a AIS netball scholarship holder and after suffering an early ACL injury this led her to be exposure to the cream of the crop of sports physios in Australia at the time.
• Having held lead positions in various sports and teams which has involved regular travel, a lot of pressure and long hours…How did you not burn out?
• Although she has had a career filled with many highlights, there are often many “costs” that accompany working in sport. How Paula re-frames these.
• How Paula secured her first role at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and shares insight of what it’s like to work at multiple Commonwealth, Paralympic and Olympic games.
• Paula provides unprecedented access to what it was like being part of both the Men’s and Women’s Basketball team Bronze medal winning Olympic games.
• What support services are available to those countries who attend the games who don’t have medical/physio support?
• Paula provides a rundown of the services, personnel and logistics of being able to provide 24 hour support for over 450 Australian athletes over the 16 day period at the Olympics games.
• How Paula manages her Opals players remotely when they are situated across the globe playing for their respective teams.
• Who gets final say? The decision making process when the national team and their respective clubs may have differences in opinion in the management of a player.
• What screening/monitoring metrics Paula uses with the Opals to evaluate injury risk, player availability,periodising training/game minutes etc.
• Is there a risk of being “institutionalised” when spending years working in high performance sport and not knowing any other way?
• Paula shares her excitement about the future of Para and Women’s sport and the opportunities for practitioners and athletes in this space.

People mentioned:

• Peter Blanch: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3FHpOBIanMmbQRkx9YjkUx
• Keren Faulkner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keren-faulkner-b56b0296/
• Kate Mahony: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TthNoykn5kz4El5jjZxjL
• Andrea Mosler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-mosler-40872a37/

Paula Peralta contact details:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-peralta-b49bbb73/
• X: https://x.com/peralta_pj

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.

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Alex Calder is an Australian Sports Scientist and S&C coach who has spent the last 6 years with one of the leading MLS franchises in the US. In addition to his work with Houston Dynamo FC he has worked in the college system across various sports as well as worked at Orlando SC (MLS) where he was responsible for the strength and conditioning of the playing squad that included Brazilian World Cup winner, Champions League winner and 2007 worlds best player (Ballon d'or) winner Kaka. In this conversation we chat about how a boy from Melbourne with no prior experience in professional sport, no contacts and the courage to buy a one way ticket to Boston was then able to build career most would envy in the top tier of football (Soccer) in the US.

Highlights from the episode…

• Alex pursued S&C initially wanting to improve his own strength and conditioning as a footballer.
• After retiring, Alex went all in and bought a one-way ticket to Boston with no job and no connections at the chance of establishing a career in high performance sport.
• He describes the first year in the US as “not for the feint hearted” and the lessons he learnt trying to get his foot into the door of sport.
• We discuss how the leaps in one’s development often are a product of being a little naive/ignorant and the value of engineering some naivety into ones decision making.
• Alex provides a step by step process of how he acquired a role as S&C coach in the US college system.
• Alex shares common pathways in the US for practitioners working in professional sporting roles and what sporting clubs look for in potential hires.
• Being an S&C Coach in the college system, day-to-day, facilities, remuneration, personnel, departments etc.
• Aside from the highlights, we discuss the costs of working in high performance sport and why he still does it?
• What it was like to work in his first MLS role with Orlando City SC, including highlights, challenges, lessons etc.
• We chat about being tested by athletes and how Alex navigated challenging situations with players and coaches and how being a chameleon in one’s approach is crucial.
• Ashley Jones “degrees of freedom” when it comes to programming athletes.
• How do you navigate a culture that may not resonate with S&C and get athletes to buy into doing gym work.
• Athletes currently are more intuitive and want to know “why” more than ever.
• When it comes to "Return To Play" what metrics Alex uses, who is involved and how the decision are made when it comes to progressing players at Houston Dynamo FC.
• When is it ok to push through pain and when we shouldn’t push through pain when it comes to progressing RTP.
• Alex speaks of the move to a new club and the past 6 years at Houston Dynamo FC.

People mentioned:

• Darren Burgess: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6RtvVQHvNNU4eRjJNQ7Mrz
• Adam Centofanti: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-centofanti-04224790/
• Ashley Jones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K58qwDLia2A
• Paul Caffery: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ireland11/

Alex Calder contact details:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-calder-aa432480/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calder_05/
• Website: http://www.aussiecoachabroad.com/about
• Book: https://www.amazon.com.au/Peak-Performance-Soccer-Coaching-Training/dp/103206031X

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.

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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.