Science for Sport Podcast

329: The Five Qualities of Speed Development

July 20th, 2026  |  33 mins 20 secs

1080 sprint, acceleration, agility training, american football, athlete monitoring, athlete recovery, athletic performance, catapult gps, change of direction, coaching psychology, college football, conditioning, curved sprinting, deceleration, elite sport, external load, force velocity profiling, high performance sport, horizontal force, individualised training, injury risk reduction, internal load, matt gebert, max velocity, maximum velocity, multidirectional speed, ncaa football, ole miss football, ole miss rebels, performance coaching, player availability, sleep and performance, speed development, sports performance, sports science, sports technology, sprint training, strength and conditioning, training load, velocity-based training, wellness monitoring, work capacity

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

Matt explains how acceleration, maximum velocity, deceleration, change of direction and conditioning are trained across different position groups. He also discusses how Ole Miss uses sports science technology to profile athletes, manage training load and support player availability.

The episode provides a practical look at the relationship between speed, data, recovery and coaching judgement, while highlighting why effective performance programmes must be individualised to the physical and psychological needs of each athlete.

314: Player Load, Practice Periodisation, and the Art of Keeping It Simple with Jackson Polk

April 6th, 2026  |  29 mins 24 secs

american football, athlete development, athlete monitoring, catapult, college athletics, college football, data analytics, elite sport, force plates, forcedecks, gps monitoring, high performance sport, jackson polk, load management, nfl preparation, oklahoma sooners, perch, performance data, player load, practice periodization, principal component analysis, recovery, richard graves, science for sport, sports analytics, sports performance, sports science, sports science podcast, sports technology, strength and conditioning, university of southern california, usc football, usc trojans, vald, velocity-based training, wearable technology

Jackson Polk, Director of Sports Science at USC Trojans football, joins Richard Graves to discuss how he built a sports science programme from the ground up using data analytics, GPS monitoring, and the art of genuine conversation. Jackson shares his unorthodox path from student videographer at Oklahoma to leading sports science at one of college football's biggest programmes, and offers a frank, grounded perspective on everything from Catapult metrics and force plate testing to the real limitations of AI in applied sport.

76: Use GPS Analysis to Develop NFL Level Fitness

September 13th, 2021  |  19 mins 20 secs

american football, catapult, college football, conditioning, fitnness, gps, kpis, nfl, power, speed

Come with us as we delve into the mysterious and exciting world of sports science…

This entertaining podcast explores:

• The science behind the world’s best athletes.
• Current issues and events in the world of sport.
• How to master the art and science of coaching.

Every Monday, Matt Solomon chats with various experts to uncover the science and secrets behind what makes the best athletes in the world so damn good at what they do. They’ll also dive into global issues and events effecting the world of sport, such as COVID-19 and gene doping.

Though anyone is welcome to join us on this journey, this podcast is primarily for:

• S&C coaches/sports scientists
• Physiotherapists
• Nutritionists/Dieticians
• Physical education teachers
• Sports enthusiasts
• Knowledge-seeking athletes

If you’re any of the above, we challenge you to listen to an episode and not fall in love with this laugh-out-loud, brain-swelling podcast.