Science for Sport Podcast

What makes a footballer genuinely effective? Is it the number of passes they complete, how much ground they cover or the impact their actions have on the opposition?

This week, Richard Graves is joined by former Bundesliga footballer and IMPECT co-founder Jens Hegeler to explore how football analytics are changing the way professional clubs assess performance, identify talent and make decisions.

Drawing on his experience playing at the highest level in Germany, Jens explains how a conversation about the limitations of traditional football statistics led him and his co-founders to develop IMPECT. Their approach challenged the value of conventional metrics such as possession and passing statistics, instead focusing on how individual actions influence the game.

Central to that approach is Packing, a method of measuring how effectively players bypass opponents through passing, dribbling and other actions. Jens explains how the concept has evolved, how clubs can use contextual data to evaluate players across different leagues and why understanding the quality of an action is often more valuable than simply counting how many times it happens.

The conversation also explores the role of data in modern recruitment, the importance of combining analytics with traditional scouting and how IMPECT's integration into Catapult is creating opportunities to connect tactical analysis, video scouting and physical performance data.

Looking ahead, Jens shares his thoughts on the growing influence of artificial intelligence in football and why, despite advances in technology, human judgement will remain an essential part of understanding player performance.

In this episode you will learn

Why traditional football statistics, including possession and passing numbers, don't always reflect the quality of a team's performance.

How IMPECT's Packing concept measures the impact of individual actions by identifying how effectively players bypass opponents.

How Packing Expected Threat adds context to player actions, helping assess their contribution to creating goalscoring opportunities.

How professional clubs use data to identify specific player profiles, compare performances across leagues and inform recruitment decisions.

Why team tactics, playing styles and the quality of teammates must be considered when evaluating individual performance.

Where data analytics can support traditional scouting, and why watching players remains an essential part of recruitment.

How IMPECT's integration with Catapult is bringing together tactical intelligence, video analysis and physical performance insights.

The opportunities artificial intelligence could create for football analysis, scouting and performance departments.

About Jens Hegeler

Jens Hegeler is a former professional footballer, co-founder of IMPECT and currently Head of Commercial, Global Scouting at Catapult.

During a professional playing career spanning clubs including Bayer Leverkusen, 1. FC Nürnberg, FC Augsburg, Hertha Berlin and Bristol City, Jens developed a first-hand understanding of the demands of elite football.

In 2014, while still playing professionally, he co-founded IMPECT alongside fellow footballer Stefan Reinartz and Lukas Keppler and Matthias Sienz. The company was established to develop football-specific performance metrics that went beyond conventional statistics and provided a more meaningful assessment of individual contributions to the game.

IMPECT became known for its innovative Packing metric and has developed scouting and analysis solutions used by professional football clubs.

Following IMPECT's acquisition by Catapult in 2025, Jens has continued to help develop its global presence, supporting clubs in using advanced data and technology to improve recruitment and performance analysis.

Learn more about IMPECT: https://www.catapult.com/solutions/impect

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Non-contact injuries remain one of the biggest challenges in professional football. With increasingly sophisticated monitoring technology, testing and sports science support available to clubs, why do players still suffer recurring soft-tissue injuries — and are we always preparing them for the physical demands of the game?

This week, Richard Graves is joined by strength and conditioning coaches Andrew Hyde and Daniel Booth to discuss how football approaches physical preparation, injury risk and individual player development.

Drawing on their experience working both inside elite sport and privately with professional footballers, Andrew and Daniel explore some of the limitations of traditional team-based strength and conditioning programmes. They discuss the challenge of individualising support across an entire squad, the potential disconnect between monitoring data and what actually happens on the pitch, and why practitioners need to understand the individual behind the numbers.

The conversation also looks at training load and whether players are always exposed to enough intensity during the week to prepare them for match demands. Andrew explains why simply targeting a painful or weak area may not address the underlying cause of a problem, while Daniel discusses the importance of assessing how an athlete actually moves, accelerates and runs rather than relying solely on testing data.

They also explore the increasingly common relationship between club programmes and private performance support. Rather than viewing external practitioners as competition, Andrew and Daniel argue that effective support requires communication, clearly defined roles and a consistent message around the athlete.

Perhaps most importantly, the discussion asks how much ownership players themselves should have over their physical development. For both guests, the goal is not simply to prescribe training, but to educate athletes well enough that they can understand their bodies, question what they are doing and take a leading role in their own preparation.

In this episode you will learn

Why individualising strength and conditioning within a professional football squad can be so difficult

Where team-based programmes can leave gaps in an individual player's physical preparation

Why monitoring data needs to be interpreted alongside what practitioners actually see on the pitch

The potential consequences of underloading players during training

Why the site of pain or weakness may not always be the underlying cause of a problem

How movement and running mechanics can contribute to recurring soft-tissue injuries

How Andrew and Daniel assess players who want to improve speed, acceleration and power

What effective collaboration between clubs and private practitioners can look like

Why culture and intent can influence the quality of strength and conditioning work

How practitioners can help athletes take greater ownership of their physical development

Why coaches should be prepared to learn from sports outside football

About Andrew Hyde and Daniel Booth

Andrew Hyde is a strength and conditioning coach who works privately with footballers ranging from academy age through to first-team level. His previous experience includes roles with Leeds United, Science for Sport, Catapult and the NHS. His work focuses heavily on understanding the individual athlete, identifying gaps in their existing physical preparation and developing programmes around their specific movement and performance needs.

Daniel Booth has worked across elite sport for more than a decade, including roles with Watford FC, Ealing Trailfinders and sprint coach Steve Fudge, as well as working as Head of Performance within Warner Bros. productions. He now runs MyoLab, providing performance and sports medical support to athletes. His approach places particular emphasis on coaching, movement assessment, athlete education and bringing different practitioners together around one consistent performance philosophy.

Together, Andrew and Daniel offer a practitioner-led perspective on one of football's recurring challenges: how to keep players physically prepared, resilient and available to perform.

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Where should sport draw the line on performance enhancement, and who should decide?

This week, Richard Graves welcomes Maximilian Martin, co-founder and CEO of Enhanced, the company behind the Enhanced Games, to discuss one of sport’s most controversial subjects: a competition that permits certain performance-enhancing substances prohibited in mainstream sport.

Maximilian explains the thinking behind the Games and makes his case for a different approach to athlete choice, medical oversight and competition. Richard questions what medical supervision involves, how athletes are informed about potential consequences, and the distinction between monitoring health and establishing long-term safety.

They also reflect on the inaugural event in Las Vegas, why performances did not always match expectations, and how training, technique and the demands of competition remain central to results. Maximilian shares his interpretation of the athletes’ performances and discusses the role he believes recovery played in their preparation.

For practitioners, coaches and anyone following the debate, this conversation examines the tensions between sporting rules, individual choice and athlete welfare. It also considers the responsibilities that come with promoting enhancement to a wider audience, including the potential influence on younger people.

In this episode you will learn

How Maximilian defines “enhanced” competition and how its rules differ from mainstream sport.

His reasoning for allowing certain performance-enhancing substances under medical supervision.

How he describes Enhanced’s athlete screening, monitoring and individual preparation programmes.

The questions Richard raises about informed consent, potential side effects and Why allowing enhancement does not remove the importance of training, technique and competition-day performance.

What Maximilian believes the inaugural Games revealed about preparation, recovery and personal bests.

How he responds to concerns about role models, younger audiences and the wider influence of the Games.

About Maximilian Martin

Maximilian Martin is the co-founder and CEO of Enhanced, the company behind the Enhanced Games. Originally from Germany, he began his career in investment banking in London before moving into entrepreneurship, including a business in Bitcoin mining. In this episode, he discusses his involvement in developing Enhanced and presents the organisation’s position on performance enhancement in sport.

The views and opinions expressed by the guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the podcast, Science for Sport or its affiliates.

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Does the way we talk about aerobic and anaerobic training help us prescribe better conditioning, or can it lead us towards the wrong sessions?

This week, Richard Graves welcomes James de Lacey back to the Science for Sport podcast to examine conditioning for high-intensity intermittent sports, including rugby, football and combat sports.

James challenges the assumption that improving recovery between hard efforts always requires more low-intensity training. He explains the distinction between delivering oxygen to the muscles and the muscles’ ability to use it, and why identifying what limits an individual athlete should guide the training you prescribe.

They discuss what repeated sprint tests, heart rate responses and muscle oxygenation measurements can reveal, including why two athletes can achieve the same performance score through very different physiological responses. James also makes his case for short sprint interval sessions and explains why conditioning needs to complement the technical and tactical work athletes already do.

For practitioners working with limited time, the conversation raises a useful question: are you targeting the adaptation the athlete needs, or simply adding more work?

In this episode you will learn

Why James questions the use of aerobic and anaerobic labels to prescribe conditioning.

How oxygen delivery and oxygen use influence performance and recovery between intense efforts.

Why peak speed, power and VO₂ max values provide only part of an athlete’s performance picture.

How heart rate recovery patterns and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can inform individual conditioning decisions.

Where James sees a role for sprint intervals, longer intervals and low-intensity training.

How to account for sport practice, training load and time constraints when planning conditioning.

Why James argues that improvements from sprint interval training can continue beyond an initial training block.

About James de Lacey

James de Lacey is a strength and conditioning coach with experience in professional and international rugby union and rugby league. He holds a master’s degree in Sport and Exercise Science and has published research in strength and conditioning. His work now includes coaching combat sports athletes and educating coaches through Sweet Science of Fighting. He is also a longstanding contributor to Science for Sport’s research reviews.

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Can athletes learn to grow from pressure, rather than simply recover from it?

This week, Richard Graves welcomes Dr Nick Holton to the Science for Sport podcast to explore antifragility: the idea that appropriately managed challenges could help athletes develop greater capacity to handle future demands.

Nick explains how he distinguishes antifragility from resilience, and why preparing athletes for difficult moments means looking beyond visualising the perfect performance. They discuss how coaches can introduce realistic challenges, account for individual differences, and support athletes through the experience and recovery afterwards.

For practitioners, the central question is how to create enough challenge to encourage development without overwhelming the athlete. Nick discusses the importance of understanding the specific emotions involved, why strong performances can conceal a risk of burnout, and how athlete feedback and wearable data might inform a more complete picture.

They also examine the limitations of the research. Antifragility remains an emerging field, with questions around its definition, measurement and application in sport. Nick shares what his team is investigating and what coaches can take from the concept while that evidence develops.

In this episode you will learn

How Nick distinguishes antifragility from resilience and robustness.

Why visualisation should also prepare athletes for difficult and imperfect circumstances.

Why psychological challenges need to reflect the individual athlete’s capacity and experience.

How pressure, frustration, disappointment and anger can require different responses.

Why recovery, athlete agreement and appropriate support matter when introducing challenges.

How performance, wellbeing and burnout can tell different stories about the same athlete.

Where antifragility research currently stands and what better measurement could offer practitioners.

About Dr Nick Holton

Dr Nick Holton is a performance and wellbeing coach, consultant and co-founder of The Antifragile Academy. He works with professional and collegiate athletes, alongside organisations in education, business and first-response services. His work focuses on human flourishing: supporting performance alongside wellbeing and fulfilment. A former football coach with 15 years’ coaching experience, Nick brings a background in education and psychology to his work with athletes and coaches.

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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

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