Episode 238: In this episode, Nicola Graham is joined by Aled, a former Wales Sevens international, and Damiaan, a second-time founder with a background in B2B SaaS. Together, they discuss the experiences and challenges that led to the creation of ATHLEET, and the problem they set out to solve.

Aled’s playing career shaped his understanding of the challenges facing athletes, while Damiaan brings valuable experience from building businesses in the B2B SaaS space.

In this episode, they explore the founding journey behind ATHLEET, the decision to build a new category, why they chose to focus on grassroots sport over the elite level, and the realities of fundraising.

Topics Discussed:

• The founding dynamic and bringing different experiences together
• Building a new category
• Choosing grassroots sport over elite sport
• The reality of fundraising and building a business

- Where you can find Damian and Aled:

• Damiaan van Zanen LinkedIn
• Aled Jenkins Linkedin
• ATHLEET

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Sponsors

Gameplan Is a Rehab Management System providing Medical & Performance Departments with a centralised platform to plan, track & manage the return-to-play process inside a data rich environment. Gameplan provides one platform to connect the people, process and data during rehab.

VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training

Hytro: The world’s leading Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) wearable, designed to accelerate recovery and maximise athletic potential using Hytro BFR for Professional Sport.

BTL: BTL Industries develops advanced rehabilitation and performance technologies, including SIS DUO, Shockwave Therapy, High-Intensity Laser, TR-Therapy, Lymphastim and R-FORCE. BTL systems are designed to support recovery, pain management, functional rehabilitation and return-to-play pathways across clinical and elite sport settings.

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Where to Find Us

Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Our Website

Episode 236: In this Gameplan episode, Andy McDonald is joined by Physiotherapist Simon Wallace, who works at Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital in Doha, Qatar. Originally from Ireland, Simon spent most of his career in rugby, working with several Premiership Rugby clubs in the UK, before moving to Aspetar. There he works with elite athletes across football, athletics, volleyball, basketball and more. - In this episode, Simon shares his comprehensive Gameplan framework for Rectus Femoris injuries in kicking and running-based field sports. - Topics Discussed: • The physical demands of kicking and sprinting on the rec fem • Why short, pressured passes can be as risky as long kicks • Aspetar's components of rehab and how to avoid clinician bias • Phased rehab, from Foundation through to the Resilience phase • Objective progression criteria for strength, range and motor control • Running and GPS benchmarks relative to game demands • Progressing kicking volume, intensity and chaos • Working as an external consultant with clubs after return to play - Where you can find Simon:

• LinkedIn • Instagram • Aspetar -

Sponsors

Gameplan Is a Rehab Management System providing Medical & Performance Departments with a centralised platform to plan, track & manage the return-to-play process inside a data rich environment. Gameplan provides one platform to connect the people, process and data during rehab.

VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training

Hytro: The world’s leading Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) wearable, designed to accelerate recovery and maximise athletic potential using Hytro BFR for Professional Sport.

BTL: BTL Industries develops advanced rehabilitation and performance technologies, including SIS DUO, Shockwave Therapy, High-Intensity Laser, TR-Therapy, Lymphastim and R-FORCE. BTL systems are designed to support recovery, pain management, functional rehabilitation and return-to-play pathways across clinical and elite sport settings.

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Where to Find Us

Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Our Website

Episode 237: In this episode, Steven Barrett is joined by Dr. Patrick Mannix, a doctoral researcher, sport scientist and performance specialist. Pat has worked globally in fast-paced sport environments, as part of interdisciplinary teams delivering integrated performance support to youth and professional athletes. He has worked across both domestic and international US soccer.

In this episode, Pat talks about his career path, what sport science support looks like at international level, and what he learned from completing a Professional Doctorate while working in elite sport.

Topics Discussed:

• Pat’s background and his route into domestic and international US soccer
• The challenges of providing sport science support at international level
• The youth-to-senior transition across North America
• How the North American pathway compares to other countries
• Lessons from completing a Prof. Doc alongside international work

Where you can find Pat:

• LinkedIn
• Research Gate

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Sponsors

Axon: Performance teams spend the morning after game day stitching together six systems before the coach gets an answer. Axon Perform fixes that. Every source you already use, Catapult, StatSports, VALD, Opta, OVAL, Wyscout, WHOOP, Garmin and the rest, connects into a dedicated Snowflake warehouse. Ask Axon, the in-platform chat, lets analysts and sports scientists query the lot in plain English. Reports that took hours now take seconds. Used by the Springboks, England RFU, Japan RFU, Sydney Roosters and a growing list of rugby, football & cricket clubs and federations. Your data, reports, measures and AI models stay yours, fully portable. See if your data is ready for AI at axonperform.com

BTL: BTL Industries develops advanced rehabilitation and performance technologies, including SIS DUO, Shockwave Therapy, High-Intensity Laser, TR-Therapy, Lymphastim and R-FORCE. BTL systems are designed to support recovery, pain management, functional rehabilitation and return-to-play pathways across clinical and elite sport settings.

VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training

Hytro: The world’s leading Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) wearable, designed to accelerate recovery and maximise athletic potential using Hytro BFR for Professional Sport.

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Where to Find Us

Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Our Website

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Our Team

• Andy McDonald
• Ben Ashworth
• Nicola Graham
• Steve Barrett
• Pete McKnight