336: How the NFL’s Best Practitioners Use Performance Data

Science for Sport — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Elite teams have access to more performance data than ever. The real competitive advantage, however, comes from knowing which questions to ask, how to interpret the answers and when to act.

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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311: The Future of Weight Room Monitoring with Perch P2

Science for Sport — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Science for Sport Podcast, host Richard Graves is joined by Jordan Lucier, Senior Director of Engineering at Catapult and Co-Founder of Perch, to explore the next evolution of performance monitoring in the weight room.

Perch has become one of the most widely used camera-based systems for measuring barbell velocity and strength training performance in elite sport. Now, with the launch of Perch P2, the technology is taking another step forward.

Jordan shares the story behind the development of Perch, how computer vision and machine learning are used to quantify weightlifting performance, and why the weight room has historically been one of the least measured environments in sport.

The conversation explores the key technological advancements behind P2 — including improved camera technology, greater processing power, enhanced portability, and new possibilities for tracking movement quality and technique.

Jordan also discusses how better strength training data can help coaches build a more complete picture of athlete performance, how Perch fits alongside Catapult’s wider ecosystem of athlete monitoring tools, and why the next frontier may lie in connecting weight room insights with on-field performance.

In this episode you will learn

How Perch evolved from an early idea into a leading weight room monitoring system
Why velocity-based training has become increasingly important in elite sport
How computer vision technology can quantify barbell movement and lifting performance
The key upgrades introduced with the new Perch P2 system
Why portability is a major step forward for strength and conditioning environments
How improved frame rates and camera technology increase measurement accuracy
The concept of the “inaccuracy gap” and why it matters for explosive movements
How machine learning is used to track movement and analyse lifting performance
Why movement quality may become the next frontier of strength training analytics
How weight room data could integrate with broader athlete monitoring systems

About Jordan Lucier
Jordan Lucier is the Senior Director of Engineering at Catapult and Co-Founder of Perch, a computer vision system designed to measure performance in the weight room.

Originally developed at MIT, Perch uses advanced camera technology and machine learning to automatically track barbell velocity, movement patterns, and strength training performance without requiring wearable sensors.

Jordan has led the engineering development of the system from its early concept through to global adoption across professional teams, collegiate programmes, and high-performance environments.