Science for Sport Podcast - Episodes Tagged with “Performance Data”

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

Science for Sport — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Richard Graves is joined by Jackson Polk, Director of Sports Science at the University of Southern California (USC), for a conversation that covers the full spectrum of what it actually means to do this job well, from wrangling a thousand Catapult metrics down to the handful that matter, to the perhaps surprising conclusion that conversation might be your most powerful tool.
Jackson's path into sports science isn't the conventional one. He started as a student videographer with Oklahoma football, found himself drawn to the patterns hiding in data, and taught himself enough statistics and analytics to make coaches stop and listen. That curiosity eventually took him from Norman, Oklahoma, to Los Angeles, where he's spent the past four years building USC football's sports science programme from the ground up.
What makes this episode stand out is Jackson's willingness to be honest about uncertainty, about AI, about his own mistakes, and about the limits of any single metric or method. He's equally at home referencing Principal Component Analysis and the TV show Veep, and that breadth of thinking is what makes him worth listening to. Whether you work in elite sport, study sports science, or just want to understand what goes into keeping a college football roster performing at its best, there's plenty here to take away.

In This Episode You Will Learn

Why reducing Catapult's thousand-plus metrics down to a focused few, Player Load, sprint volume, and repeat sprint exposures, actually produces better decisions than trying to monitor everything
How Jackson uses principal component analysis to build confidence in the data he's presenting to coaches and athletes
The "iceberg" model of athlete monitoring: what data can tell you, and what only a direct conversation will uncover
Why practice periodisation and load management have been one of USC's biggest organisational wins, and how PlayerLoad underpins that planning
How force plates (via VALD/ForceDecks) and velocity-based training tools like Perch complement GPS data to reveal readiness on any given day
The case for teaching college athletes sound recovery habits early, so they're not spending their rookie contracts figuring out what works
How Jackson thinks about AI in sports science: where it's useful, where to be cautious, and why it's only as good as the data it's trained on
Why communication, not technology, is the cornerstone of an effective sports science operation, and how to make data digestible for coaches under pressure
The value of building a culture where experimentation and failure are treated as learning, not liability
Lessons from Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke on separating process from outcome, applied directly to sports science decision-making

About Jackson Polk
Jackson Polk is the Director of Sports Science for USC Trojans football, a role he was elevated to in 2024 after serving as Assistant Director from 2022–23. He joined the USC support staff in March 2022, bringing with him an unconventional background that blends mathematics, data science, and a deep passion for American football.
His journey began at the University of Oklahoma, where he spent four seasons as a student videographer before becoming a volunteer performance analyst. While at OU, he co-founded the Oklahoma Sports and Data Analytics Club, which went on to win the Pro Football Focus Analytics Blitz contest. He completed his bachelor's degree in mathematics at Oklahoma in 2021 and subsequently pursued a master's in data science and analytics.
At USC, Jackson has been responsible for building the football programme's sports science infrastructure, integrating GPS monitoring, force plate testing, and load management into daily practice planning. He holds an MBA alongside his analytical credentials, and his work sits at the intersection of data science and high-performance sport.

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298: Building Better Athletes. Michigan’s High-Performance Approach with Lew Porchiazzo

Science for Sport — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 06:00:00 +0000

This week, Richard Graves sits down with Lew Porchiazzo, Assistant Director for Strength & Conditioning for Olympic Sports at the University of Michigan.

Lew brings more than 16 years of experience at one of the most successful athletic departments in the NCAA. His journey from a Division III football lineman to a leader shaping the development of athletes in softball, gymnastics, men’s soccer and more, is filled with hard-earned lessons, humility, and an unwavering commitment to supporting people first.

In this conversation, Lew dives into:
• How to develop trust-driven relationships with athletes
• What it truly takes to “raise the floor” of athletic performance
• Why systems like Perch have changed the way Michigan trains
• The realities of guiding young, ambitious athletes through strength, power, and conditioning programmes
• The age-old question: How strong is strong enough? How fit is fit enough?
Lew’s philosophy blends evidence-based practice, a deep understanding of human behaviour, and a humility-first leadership style that resonates across the world of elite sport.

In this episode, you will learn:

How Lew progressed from internships to a senior leadership role at Michigan—and what he learned along the way
Why treating athletes as humans first is central to unlocking performance
How Michigan individualises training across sports with vastly different demands
The process of integrating Perch velocity-based training and how it transformed athlete intent and coaching quality
How to use real-time data to adjust loads, manage fatigue, and protect athletes from themselves
When to stop chasing maximal strength and start focusing on raising the floor for performance
How to guide young athletes who want PBs every week without compromising long-term development
Why the most fulfilling moments in coaching come from watching athletes realise they’re capable of more than they thought
Lew’s leadership philosophy: vulnerability, authenticity, and serving others
The role of strength & conditioning in creating athletes who are not only powerful and robust—but durable and available

About Lew Porchiazzo
Lew Porchiazzo is the Assistant Director for Strength & Conditioning for Olympic Sports at the University of Michigan, where he has worked since 2009. He currently oversees physical development for a range of elite programmes including softball, women’s gymnastics, and men’s soccer.
Lew began his career with internships at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and Baylor University, before joining Michigan as a graduate assistant. Across 16+ years he has become a central leader within the department, known for his athlete-first approach, relationship-driven coaching style, and commitment to developing staff and students with authenticity and humility.
His expertise spans strength training, power development, velocity-based training, long-term athlete development, and programme design across sports with widely different physical demands. Beyond the weight room, Lew is passionate about helping athletes grow as people—and maintaining a love of movement and training long after their competitive days are over.
He occasionally even officiates weddings… but you’ll have to listen to the episode to hear that story.

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297: Finding the Competitive Edge: Elite Performance with FC Midtjylland’s Niklas Virtanen

Science for Sport — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 06:00:00 +0000

This week, host Richard Graves sits down with one of the most energetic and thought-provoking voices in modern performance: Niklas Virtanen, Head of Sports Science at FC Midtjylland.

If you’ve ever wondered how a club without the financial muscle of Europe’s giants consistently outperforms bigger teams, beating Nottingham Forest away, winning at Celtic, and challenging at the top of the Danish Superliga, this conversation tells you exactly how they do it.

Niklas is a rare blend of passion, creativity and evidence-based practice. His presentation at a recent Catapult event had the entire room hooked, and this episode delivers the same energy. From dismantling traditional GPS limitations to redefining how football teams train for micro-actions, set pieces, and physical dominance, Niklas pulls back the curtain on the processes driving Midtjylland’s success.

This episode goes deep into the real-world application of sports science, the balance between data and intuition, and why sometimes the most powerful competitive advantage is simply learning to “solve problems without money.”

Things You Will Learn

Why FC Midtjylland’s entire model is built on “solving problems without money” and how data gives them a competitive edge.
How Niklas and his team dominate set pieces using Trackman technology and detailed ball-flight analytics.
Why GPS alone is blind to football’s most important movements, and how inertial data captures the micro-actions that matter.
How to use accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers to measure real football movement quality.
The truth about injury “prediction,” why we still don’t know athletes’ limits, and why subjective data is often your most valuable input.
How to balance analytics with player feelings, coaching intuition, and the “eyeball test.”
Why communication, not technology, is the biggest challenge when coaching staffs change.
Practical ways to design training exercises that actually transfer to match actions (including why traditional rondos may be overrated).
How to create buy-in across departments in fast-moving environments with shifting coaching teams.
Why the best decisions come from leading with data first, then layering coaching opinions on top.

About Niklas Virtanen
Niklas Virtanen is the Head of Sports Science at FC Midtjylland, one of Europe’s most forward-thinking football clubs and pioneers in data-driven performance.
From Finland’s Jyvaskyla to the top of the Danish Superliga, Niklas has carved out a journey defined by curiosity, relentless learning, and a willingness to challenge traditional methods. Starting his career as a physiotherapist, he transitioned into coaching, performance, and ultimately sports science — where he discovered his passion for practical, applied, football-specific methodology.
At Midtjylland, Niklas plays a central role in integrating data, performance analytics, inertial technology and coaching processes. His approach blends scientific rigour with real-world applicability, always anchoring decisions in the question: “Does this help the players perform?”
He collaborates closely with coaches, mental performance staff, physios, analysts, and leadership teams, shaping a holistic performance culture built around trust, objective data, and constant communication.
Niklas is known across the professional football community for his high energy, creativity, authenticity, and his commitment to pushing the boundaries of what sports science can be. You’ll often find him speaking to — and learning from — industry leaders such as Chris Barnes and Paul Balsom, who he credits with encouraging him to explore unconventional ideas, test them in the real world, and build evidence from the ground up.
He shares many of these insights on LinkedIn, where he’s become a respected voice for modern performance practitioners.

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259: Every Impact Matters: The Game-Changing Initiative

Science for Sport — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 06:00:00 +0000

In this fascinating deep-dive, we explore a groundbreaking initiative that's set to revolutionise our understanding of impact forces in youth American football. The Denver Broncos Foundation and Riddell are launching an unprecedented state-wide programme that will generate millions of data points on player impacts, technique, and load management at the secondary school level.

But the real story goes beyond the helmets. How does a thin proprietary film inside each helmet capture and translate impact data? What insights can coaches extract from nearly a million recorded impacts across 13,000 secondary school athletes? And most intriguingly - could this massive data collection effort fundamentally change how we approach technique development and injury prevention in contact sports?

Join us as we dissect the technology with Riddell's Brian Kopp and explore the programme's implementation with the Broncos Foundation's Allie Engelken. We'll examine:
The science behind impact sensing technology
How real-time analytics are revolutionising coaching methodology
The potential implications for evidence-based practice in youth sports
Whether you're a sports scientist, strength coach, or performance specialist, this episode offers unprecedented insights into the future of data-driven player development.
This isn't just about American football - it's about understanding how technology can bridge the gap between elite and grassroots sports science.

About Allie Engelken
As Executive Director of the Denver Broncos Foundation, Allie Engelken is driving transformative change in youth sports across Colorado. With extensive experience in community development and sports philanthropy, she leads strategic initiatives that bridge the gap between professional and grassroots sports. Under her leadership, the Foundation has launched unprecedented programs, including the largest statewide smart helmet initiative in American football history. Her work focuses on removing barriers to participation while elevating safety standards in youth sports through innovative partnerships and technology adoption.

About Brian Kopp
A pioneering figure in sports technology and analytics, Brian Kopp serves as Senior Vice President at Riddell, where he leads the development and implementation of their groundbreaking smart helmet technology. With over two decades of experience in sports innovation, Brian previously held executive positions at STATS LLC and SportRadar, where he transformed how data is used in professional sports. His expertise spans across player tracking, performance analytics, and safety technology development, making him one of the industry's leading voices in sports science and equipment innovation.