Science for Sport Podcast

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Dave Emsley, physiotherapist and movement specialist at The Body Mechanics, for a practical conversation on why successful rehabilitation needs to look beyond the site of pain.

Dave explains how the body adapts around injury, why a scan or strength test is only one part of the picture, and what practitioners can learn by observing how an athlete actually moves. From hamstring tears and persistent knee pain to golf swings, fast bowling and return-to-play decisions, this episode explores the relationship between biomechanics, motor patterns and long-term performance.

The discussion also unpacks “adaptive potential”: the body’s remarkable ability to find a way to keep performing when something is not working as it should. But that capacity is not unlimited. For practitioners, the challenge is recognising when an athlete’s compensations are taking them closer to the gutter and helping them restore better options before another area of the system breaks down.

In this episode you will learn

Why pain should be treated as information, rather than simply the problem to remove

How movement compensations can shift load elsewhere in the kinetic chain

Where scans, strength testing and force-plate data fit within a complete assessment

Why data should help confirm a clinical decision, rather than make it in isolation

The difference between quantitative testing and the qualitative assessment of movement

What “adaptive potential” means for injury risk, performance and longevity

Why athletes with the same diagnosis may need very different rehabilitation plans

When technical changes are worth making—and when practitioners should protect an athlete’s existing strengths

Why return-to-play should account for the athlete’s actual performance demands, not just symptom resolution

How practitioners can use movement quality to guide more individualised rehabilitation

About Dave Emsley

Dave Emsley is a physiotherapist and movement specialist at The Body Mechanics. With a background in sports science and physiotherapy, he works with athletes across a range of sports, including golf and football, and consults with Premier League footballers. His work focuses on biomechanical assessment, movement patterns, rehabilitation and helping people return to performance with a better understanding of how their body moves.

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Tennis players need far more than clean technique and a strong forehand. They need to be fast, powerful, durable and able to recover well enough to perform across an unpredictable, year-round competitive schedule.

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Joshua Dragone, Head of Athletic Development at Dukes Meadows Tennis Academy, to explore what effective physical development looks like in tennis.

Joshua explains why tennis S&C demands a different approach: players may be travelling, competing, dealing with limited gym access or adjusting plans after every match. He shares how he identifies the key physical qualities to target, creates structure without becoming rigid, and helps young players build the recovery, hydration and fuelling habits that support long-term development.

The conversation also looks at maturation, the influence of social media on junior training, and why parents, tennis coaches and athletic development coaches need to be aligned around the individual athlete.

In this episode you will learn

Why tennis requires athletes to develop speed, power, change of direction, robustness and energy-system capacity at the same time.

How to plan physical preparation around an unpredictable tournament schedule.

How to identify the one or two physical priorities that matter most for an individual player.

Why growth and maturation should shape expectations and programming in junior tennis.

How to use training windows effectively when players are travelling and competing.

The role of sleep, hydration and fuelling in availability, recovery and performance.

Why junior tennis players are often under-fuelled — and how practitioners and parents can help.

How consistent warm-up and recovery routines reduce friction on competition days.

How to respond constructively when players want to copy professional athletes’ social-media training.

Why alignment between player, parent, tennis coach and S&C coach is essential.

About Joshua Dragone

Joshua Dragone is the Head of Athletic Development at Dukes Meadows Tennis Academy in West London. He joined the academy in 2021 as a Senior Athletic Development Coach and moved into his current role in 2022. With more than a decade of coaching experience across sports including rugby, football and tennis, Joshua now specialises in helping junior tennis players become faster, stronger and more robust through developmentally appropriate, athlete-centred programming.

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​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese

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​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance

​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes

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How much of an athlete’s performance is shaped by the materials they wear and use?

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Dr Sarah Karmel, Chief Science Officer at RHEON Labs, to explore how dynamic materials are changing the way sport thinks about protection, comfort and performance.

Sarah explains the science behind RHEON’s non-Newtonian polymer technology: materials that remain soft and flexible at rest, but stiffen to manage energy when exposed to force. From NFL helmet components designed to address both linear and rotational impacts, to sports bras that provide support without unnecessary compression, this is material science with practical implications for athletes.

The conversation also looks at vibration damping in tennis and padel rackets, the role of apparel in supporting movement, and why the next step in sports equipment may be creating products that adapt to the athlete, rather than asking the athlete to adapt to the product.

In this episode you will learn

How dynamic polymers respond differently at rest and under force.

Why managing both linear and rotational impacts matters in athlete protection.

Why repetitive lower-energy impacts are receiving greater attention in contact sport.

How sports bra design can influence comfort, movement and the running experience for female athletes.

How dynamic materials can reduce vibration in rackets without removing the feel athletes need.

The potential role of responsive compression apparel in muscle support and tendon loading.

Why energy management is the common thread linking helmets, apparel and sporting equipment.

How material innovation could make sports equipment more individualised and athlete-centred.

About Dr Sarah Karmel

Dr Sarah Karmel is Chief Science Officer at RHEON Labs, where she leads the development of advanced elastomeric materials for sport, protection and performance applications. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and previously held the Blavatnik Fellowship at the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on translating polymer and material science into practical technologies that improve how athletes are protected, supported and able to perform.

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​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese

​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More

​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance

​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes

​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research

Richard Graves welcomes Dr Matthew Ibrahim back to the Science for Sport podcast to discuss how sports science, strength and conditioning, athlete monitoring and wellness can be brought together within one integrated performance model.

Matthew explains how he is applying this approach in his new role as Assistant Athletic Director of Health, Performance and Wellness at Malden Catholic. Rather than collecting data simply because the technology is available, his focus is on asking better questions, identifying the measures that genuinely inform decisions and presenting information in a way that athletes, coaches, parents and support staff can understand.

The conversation explores the difference between returning an athlete to play and returning them to performance. Matthew discusses how force plates, isometric strength testing, sprint timing, velocity-based training and subjective wellness measures can contribute to a criteria-based process, while emphasising that every test must have a clear purpose.

Matthew also introduces his new Science for Sport course, Frontal Plane Fundamentals: Lower Body Training. He explains why lateral strength and movement are often underdeveloped, the importance of the adductors in athletic performance and how simple lateral squat and lunge progressions can be incorporated into a training programme.

In this episode you will learn

How to connect sports science, strength and conditioning, education and wellness within one performance model

Why collecting more data does not necessarily produce better decisions

How to identify the performance tests and monitoring measures that matter most

The difference between return to play and criteria-based return to performance

How practitioners can prepare athletes for sudden increases in training and competition load

Why frontal-plane strength is important for running, cutting, skating and changing direction

How lateral squats and lunges can develop the adductors and improve athletic movement

Why relationships, trust and communication are essential when building athlete buy-in

About Matthew Ibrahim

Dr Matthew Ibrahim is the Assistant Athletic Director of Health, Performance and Wellness at Malden Catholic in Massachusetts. He has more than 15 years of experience across strength and conditioning, human performance, education and sports rehabilitation.

Matthew holds a PhD in Human and Sport Performance and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He is also the author of Train Like a Pro: Programming to Develop Your Inner Athlete and is currently working on a second Human Kinetics book focused on strength-based health, performance and wellness for young people.

His work centres on making performance science understandable and useful, helping athletes develop the physical skills, confidence and habits needed to perform in sport and beyond.

Speed in American football is about far more than running a fast 40-yard dash. It is the ability to create space, close space, accelerate, decelerate, change direction and repeatedly produce high-speed actions under the demands of the game.

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Matt Gebert, Strength and Conditioning Coach at Ole Miss Football, to explore how speed is developed within an elite college football programme.

Matt explains how Ole Miss structures speed training across the week, from acceleration and change of direction to maximum velocity, curved sprinting and conditioning. He also breaks down how the physical demands change between position groups and why offensive linemen, linebackers, running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs require different training priorities.

The conversation explores the five key qualities Matt uses to assess speed development and how tools including Catapult GPS and the 1080 Sprint can help coaches understand an athlete’s strengths, weaknesses and potential performance limiters.

However, collecting more data does not automatically lead to better decisions. Matt explains why sports science technology must be accurate, efficient and actionable, particularly when working with a squad of around 120 athletes within strict time restrictions.

Richard and Matt also discuss the balance between pushing athletes hard and protecting player availability, the value of wellness monitoring, the importance of sleep and why technology should help practitioners ask better questions rather than replace coaching judgement.

Matt also reflects on how his coaching philosophy has changed during more than a decade in college football, including moving away from one-size-fits-all programming and learning to coach athletes differently, both physically and psychologically.

In this episode you will learn

Why speed in team sport is ultimately about creating and closing space

How Ole Miss structures acceleration, maximum velocity, change of direction and conditioning work

Why different football positions require different speed and strength qualities

The five physical qualities Matt assesses within speed development

How Catapult GPS and the 1080 Sprint are used to profile athletes

Why maximum velocity is particularly important for wide receivers and defensive backs

How to identify and improve an athlete’s performance limiters

The difference between using sports technology and practising sports science

The three questions Matt asks before introducing new technology

How external and internal training loads can inform programme decisions

Why wellness questionnaires can start important conversations with athletes

The relationship between training load, recovery and player availability

Why sleep may be the most overlooked performance metric

How Matt’s approach to individualising training and communication has evolved

Why acceleration should be a priority for young athletes in almost every sport

About Matt Gebert

Matt Gebert is a Strength and Conditioning Coach with Ole Miss Football, where he leads speed development work within the programme’s performance team.

Matt has worked in college football for approximately 13 years and is currently completing a PhD focused on speed development. His work covers linear speed, multidirectional movement, acceleration, maximum velocity, deceleration, curved sprinting and conditioning for team-sport athletes.

Alongside his coaching and research, Matt regularly shares practical information about speed development and the use of sports science within high-performance environments. He is also preparing a forthcoming book focused on speed development for team-sport athletes.

FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL

SIGN UP NOW: https://bit.ly/SFSepisode241

​ Learn Quicker & More Effectively

​ Optimise Your Athletes' Recovery

​ Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In

​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese

​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More

​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance

​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes

​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research