This week, Richard Graves is joined by Jamie Hepner, Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult.

Drawing on almost 12 years of working with leading NFL and college football programmes, Jamie explains how applied sports science has progressed from simply monitoring athletes to actively shaping training and practice.

The conversation explores how performance teams can combine wearable data, video and practitioner judgement to manage player availability without leaving athletes underprepared. Jamie discusses why training load cannot be viewed in isolation, how deviations at individual and positional-group level require different responses, and why feeling tired after a demanding training block is not necessarily a negative outcome.

Jamie also explains how technology such as Vector 8 is connecting physical performance data with the tactical context of practice. This allows practitioners to examine the demands of particular plays, automate player participation and prescribe the type and number of repetitions an athlete may need during the week.

This is a practical discussion about moving beyond interesting information and using data to make decisions that improve preparation, availability and performance.

In this episode you will learn

• What applied sports science looks like within NFL and college football
• Why the quality of the question determines the value of the data
• How player tracking and video can provide greater context around physical demands
• Why minimising training load does not necessarily reduce injury risk
• How performance teams balance player availability with adequate preparation
• How wearable data can help prescribe practice rather than simply review it
• Why individual and positional-group deviations require different responses
• How subjective athlete feedback and objective performance data work together
• Why fatigue and soreness can sometimes be an intended training response
• How practitioners can turn performance information into decisions coaches can use
• Why the next stage of athlete monitoring is likely to focus on context rather than data volume

About Jamie Hepner

Jamie is Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult

He works with leading American football programmes to help practitioners and coaches apply athlete-monitoring data to training, preparation and player-availability decisions. During almost 12 years at Catapult, Jamie has helped the company respond to the evolving performance needs of NFL and college football teams.

Originally from Australia, Jamie relocated to the United States when he joined Catapult during the company’s early expansion into American sport. His previous experience includes athlete management with AFL Victoria and strength and conditioning coaching.

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This week, Richard Graves is joined by Dr Trevor Short, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Health, Wellness and Performance at Utah State University.

Trevor explains how Utah State is bringing sports science, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, nutrition and mental wellness together around three shared objectives: athlete availability, performance development and readiness to compete.

The conversation explores why alignment must come before data, how monitoring should respond to the questions coaches are actually asking, and why collecting more information does not automatically lead to better decisions. Trevor also discusses the challenge of balancing performance development with athlete availability, adapting thresholds to the demands of the season and communicating the same evidence differently to coaches and senior leaders.

This is a practical discussion about designing high-performance systems in which every intervention has a purpose, departments work beyond their traditional silos and the athlete remains at the centre of decision-making.

In this episode you will learn

• Why athlete availability, performance and readiness can be competing objectives
• How Utah State is integrating its performance, medical, nutrition and mental wellness teams
• Why alignment with coaches should come before collecting data
• How to build monitoring systems around meaningful performance questions
• Why readiness flags must be interpreted within the context of the season
• How multidisciplinary teams can make better decisions for individual athletes
• Why the same information should be communicated differently to coaches and administrators
• How standard operating procedures can make performance systems more consistent and measurable
• Why leadership, culture and trust matter as much as technology
• How integrated athlete support can increase a team’s chances of winning

About Trevor Short

Dr Trevor Short is Senior Associate Athletics Director for Health, Wellness and Performance at Utah State University, where he oversees sports medicine, strength and conditioning, sports nutrition, mental wellness and sports performance.

Before joining Utah State, Trevor worked as a performance and sports scientist at the University of Hawai‘i, supporting sports science provision across its intercollegiate programmes. His career has also included strength and conditioning, applied research, university teaching, private-sector performance coaching and operational leadership.

Trevor holds a PhD in Kinesiology and is a Certified Performance and Sport Scientist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA. His work focuses on integrated high-performance systems, athlete monitoring and the use of evidence to improve athlete availability, readiness and performance.

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With the biggest World Cup in history placing huge demands on players, staff, travel logistics, recovery windows and match preparation, Warren explains where BFR now fits inside elite performance environments.

This conversation goes beyond the basic idea of BFR as a recovery tool. Warren breaks down how it can be used to support circulation, tissue preparation, injury risk reduction, return-to-play, long-haul travel strategies and squad-wide recovery workflows.

He also discusses the challenge every practitioner will recognise: how to balance research, data, individualisation and real-world practicality when time is limited and performance outcomes matter.

For coaches, sports scientists, physios and performance staff working in elite sport, this episode gives a clear look at how BFR is being applied in tournament football and why the next stage of recovery science may be less about collecting more data, and more about using meaningful interventions consistently.

In this episode you will learn

• What blood flow restriction is and why its application has changed in elite sport
• How BFR can be used for recovery, tissue priming, warm-ups and travel support
• Why long-haul travel creates a major performance challenge during tournament football
• How teams are adapting BFR protocols to fit real-world environments, including pools, the sea, flights and pitch-based warm-ups
• Where BFR can help bridge the gap between low-grade injury and return-to-pla
• Why Warren believes circulation is becoming a major focus in modern recovery science
• How elite teams balance scientific precision with practical use across a full squad
• Why highly specific numbers can sometimes become a barrier to implementation
• How BFR protocols can be individualised without overcomplicating delivery
• What Warren would study if he had unlimited access to World Cup players, wearables and performance data

About Dr Warren Bradley

Dr Warren Bradley is Co-Founder and Head of Elite Performance at Hytro, a company specialising in wearable blood flow restriction technology for performance, recovery and rehabilitation.

A sports scientist by trade, Warren has spent more than a decade working in professional sport, including Premier League football and international rugby. He completed a PhD in exercise physiology and has focused much of his work on making blood flow restriction safer, more practical and more accessible for athletes and practitioners.

Through Hytro, Warren works with elite teams and athletes across world sport, helping them apply BFR in realistic performance environments — from training grounds and recovery rooms to tournament travel, warm-ups and matchday preparation.

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In this episode of the Science for Sport Podcast, Richard Graves is joined by Dr Ben Rosenblatt, Founder of 292 Performance and former Lead Men’s Physical Performance Coach at The Football Association.

Ben draws on his experience preparing the England men’s football team for two World Cups and a European Championship, alongside his work with Olympic athletes, GB Hockey and elite performers across a range of sports.

The conversation explores what it really takes to prepare athletes for tournament football at the highest level. Ben discusses why physical preparation cannot begin when players arrive in camp, how small doses of training can create meaningful change during a tournament, and why “available” is very different from “ready to compete” when returning players from injury.

He also explains the physical and psychological challenges of competing in extreme environments, from heat and altitude to fatigue and pressure, and shares how the best performance teams use data, observation, communication and athlete understanding together to make better decisions.

For practitioners working in elite sport, this episode offers a detailed insight into preparing players not simply to take part in major tournaments, but to perform when the demands are at their highest.

In this episode you will learn

• Why effective tournament preparation starts months before the first game.
• How England used micro-dosed strength training during the 2018 World Cup to improve players’ power and hamstring strength.
• Why athletes must continually adapt and “reinvent” themselves to sustain performance at the highest level.
• How Ben used daily monitoring with GB Hockey to prepare players for the demands of eight matches in 13 days at the Rio Olympics.
• Why data should be considered alongside observation, athlete feedback, staff conversations and practitioner judgement.
• The difference between returning a player to availability and preparing them to compete in the decisive stages of a major tournament.
• How performance teams can prepare players for heat, humidity, altitude and travel during the 2026 World Cup.
• Why recovery, nutrition, strength training and sprint exposure must be individualised rather than delivered as a single team-wide solution.
• How clarity, trust and pressure training help athletes execute when the stakes are highest.
• What the best high-performance environments look and feel like behind the scenes.

About Dr Ben Rosenblatt
Dr Ben Rosenblatt is the Founder and Director of 292 Performance, a multidisciplinary performance consultancy supporting elite athletes and organisations.

He previously served as Lead Men’s Physical Performance Coach at The Football Association, where he supported the England men’s senior team through two World Cups and a European Championship. His career has also included work with the British Olympic Association, GB Hockey, elite football and Olympic athletes across multiple Games.

Ben holds a PhD in biomechanics and motor learning, and his work focuses on helping athletes and teams prepare for the most demanding moments in high-performance sport.

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​ 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

Jacob shares the journey from an MIT startup to being trusted by pro teams, collegiate programs, and the military, and how the recent Catapult acquisition of Perch is creating a seamless ecosystem that connects weight-room data with on-field performance metrics.

What you’ll learn in this episode

• How camera-based velocity-based training (VBT) is revolutionising athlete monitoring.

• Why closing the feedback loop in the weight room is a game-changer for S&C coaches and sports scientists.

• Real-world insights: how LSU Football leveraged Perch to fuel a national championship season.

• What the Catapult–Perch integration means for the future of athlete data and performance analytics.

• The challenges and lessons of building a hardware-software platform for elite sport.

About Jacob Rothman
Jacob Rothman co-founded Perch at MIT after a back injury inspired him to find a safer, smarter way for athletes to train. Since 2017, Perch has become a trusted solution for pro teams, collegiate programs, and elite training facilities, capturing over 500 million reps in the weight room. In June 2025, Catapult acquired Perch to bring non-invasive, AI-powered strength analytics into its global athlete performance ecosystem. Today, Jacob leads Strength at Catapult, driving innovation in integrated performance and health solutions.

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