Science for Sport Podcast

Tennis players need far more than clean technique and a strong forehand. They need to be fast, powerful, durable and able to recover well enough to perform across an unpredictable, year-round competitive schedule.

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Joshua Dragone, Head of Athletic Development at Dukes Meadows Tennis Academy, to explore what effective physical development looks like in tennis.

Joshua explains why tennis S&C demands a different approach: players may be travelling, competing, dealing with limited gym access or adjusting plans after every match. He shares how he identifies the key physical qualities to target, creates structure without becoming rigid, and helps young players build the recovery, hydration and fuelling habits that support long-term development.

The conversation also looks at maturation, the influence of social media on junior training, and why parents, tennis coaches and athletic development coaches need to be aligned around the individual athlete.

In this episode you will learn

Why tennis requires athletes to develop speed, power, change of direction, robustness and energy-system capacity at the same time.

How to plan physical preparation around an unpredictable tournament schedule.

How to identify the one or two physical priorities that matter most for an individual player.

Why growth and maturation should shape expectations and programming in junior tennis.

How to use training windows effectively when players are travelling and competing.

The role of sleep, hydration and fuelling in availability, recovery and performance.

Why junior tennis players are often under-fuelled — and how practitioners and parents can help.

How consistent warm-up and recovery routines reduce friction on competition days.

How to respond constructively when players want to copy professional athletes’ social-media training.

Why alignment between player, parent, tennis coach and S&C coach is essential.

About Joshua Dragone

Joshua Dragone is the Head of Athletic Development at Dukes Meadows Tennis Academy in West London. He joined the academy in 2021 as a Senior Athletic Development Coach and moved into his current role in 2022. With more than a decade of coaching experience across sports including rugby, football and tennis, Joshua now specialises in helping junior tennis players become faster, stronger and more robust through developmentally appropriate, athlete-centred programming.

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How much of an athlete’s performance is shaped by the materials they wear and use?

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Dr Sarah Karmel, Chief Science Officer at RHEON Labs, to explore how dynamic materials are changing the way sport thinks about protection, comfort and performance.

Sarah explains the science behind RHEON’s non-Newtonian polymer technology: materials that remain soft and flexible at rest, but stiffen to manage energy when exposed to force. From NFL helmet components designed to address both linear and rotational impacts, to sports bras that provide support without unnecessary compression, this is material science with practical implications for athletes.

The conversation also looks at vibration damping in tennis and padel rackets, the role of apparel in supporting movement, and why the next step in sports equipment may be creating products that adapt to the athlete, rather than asking the athlete to adapt to the product.

In this episode you will learn

How dynamic polymers respond differently at rest and under force.

Why managing both linear and rotational impacts matters in athlete protection.

Why repetitive lower-energy impacts are receiving greater attention in contact sport.

How sports bra design can influence comfort, movement and the running experience for female athletes.

How dynamic materials can reduce vibration in rackets without removing the feel athletes need.

The potential role of responsive compression apparel in muscle support and tendon loading.

Why energy management is the common thread linking helmets, apparel and sporting equipment.

How material innovation could make sports equipment more individualised and athlete-centred.

About Dr Sarah Karmel

Dr Sarah Karmel is Chief Science Officer at RHEON Labs, where she leads the development of advanced elastomeric materials for sport, protection and performance applications. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and previously held the Blavatnik Fellowship at the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on translating polymer and material science into practical technologies that improve how athletes are protected, supported and able to perform.

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​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance

​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes

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Richard Graves welcomes Dr Matthew Ibrahim back to the Science for Sport podcast to discuss how sports science, strength and conditioning, athlete monitoring and wellness can be brought together within one integrated performance model.

Matthew explains how he is applying this approach in his new role as Assistant Athletic Director of Health, Performance and Wellness at Malden Catholic. Rather than collecting data simply because the technology is available, his focus is on asking better questions, identifying the measures that genuinely inform decisions and presenting information in a way that athletes, coaches, parents and support staff can understand.

The conversation explores the difference between returning an athlete to play and returning them to performance. Matthew discusses how force plates, isometric strength testing, sprint timing, velocity-based training and subjective wellness measures can contribute to a criteria-based process, while emphasising that every test must have a clear purpose.

Matthew also introduces his new Science for Sport course, Frontal Plane Fundamentals: Lower Body Training. He explains why lateral strength and movement are often underdeveloped, the importance of the adductors in athletic performance and how simple lateral squat and lunge progressions can be incorporated into a training programme.

In this episode you will learn

How to connect sports science, strength and conditioning, education and wellness within one performance model

Why collecting more data does not necessarily produce better decisions

How to identify the performance tests and monitoring measures that matter most

The difference between return to play and criteria-based return to performance

How practitioners can prepare athletes for sudden increases in training and competition load

Why frontal-plane strength is important for running, cutting, skating and changing direction

How lateral squats and lunges can develop the adductors and improve athletic movement

Why relationships, trust and communication are essential when building athlete buy-in

About Matthew Ibrahim

Dr Matthew Ibrahim is the Assistant Athletic Director of Health, Performance and Wellness at Malden Catholic in Massachusetts. He has more than 15 years of experience across strength and conditioning, human performance, education and sports rehabilitation.

Matthew holds a PhD in Human and Sport Performance and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He is also the author of Train Like a Pro: Programming to Develop Your Inner Athlete and is currently working on a second Human Kinetics book focused on strength-based health, performance and wellness for young people.

His work centres on making performance science understandable and useful, helping athletes develop the physical skills, confidence and habits needed to perform in sport and beyond.

Speed in American football is about far more than running a fast 40-yard dash. It is the ability to create space, close space, accelerate, decelerate, change direction and repeatedly produce high-speed actions under the demands of the game.

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

Matt explains how Ole Miss structures speed training across the week, from acceleration and change of direction to maximum velocity, curved sprinting and conditioning. He also breaks down how the physical demands change between position groups and why offensive linemen, linebackers, running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs require different training priorities.

The conversation explores the five key qualities Matt uses to assess speed development and how tools including Catapult GPS and the 1080 Sprint can help coaches understand an athlete’s strengths, weaknesses and potential performance limiters.

However, collecting more data does not automatically lead to better decisions. Matt explains why sports science technology must be accurate, efficient and actionable, particularly when working with a squad of around 120 athletes within strict time restrictions.

Richard and Matt also discuss the balance between pushing athletes hard and protecting player availability, the value of wellness monitoring, the importance of sleep and why technology should help practitioners ask better questions rather than replace coaching judgement.

Matt also reflects on how his coaching philosophy has changed during more than a decade in college football, including moving away from one-size-fits-all programming and learning to coach athletes differently, both physically and psychologically.

In this episode you will learn

Why speed in team sport is ultimately about creating and closing space

How Ole Miss structures acceleration, maximum velocity, change of direction and conditioning work

Why different football positions require different speed and strength qualities

The five physical qualities Matt assesses within speed development

How Catapult GPS and the 1080 Sprint are used to profile athletes

Why maximum velocity is particularly important for wide receivers and defensive backs

How to identify and improve an athlete’s performance limiters

The difference between using sports technology and practising sports science

The three questions Matt asks before introducing new technology

How external and internal training loads can inform programme decisions

Why wellness questionnaires can start important conversations with athletes

The relationship between training load, recovery and player availability

Why sleep may be the most overlooked performance metric

How Matt’s approach to individualising training and communication has evolved

Why acceleration should be a priority for young athletes in almost every sport

About Matt Gebert

Matt Gebert is a Strength and Conditioning Coach with Ole Miss Football, where he leads speed development work within the programme’s performance team.

Matt has worked in college football for approximately 13 years and is currently completing a PhD focused on speed development. His work covers linear speed, multidirectional movement, acceleration, maximum velocity, deceleration, curved sprinting and conditioning for team-sport athletes.

Alongside his coaching and research, Matt regularly shares practical information about speed development and the use of sports science within high-performance environments. He is also preparing a forthcoming book focused on speed development for team-sport athletes.

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​ 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

In this episode of the Science for Sport Podcast, Richard Graves welcomes back Dr Warren Bradley, Co-Founder and Head of Elite Performance at Hytro, to explore how blood flow restriction is being used at the highest level of sport.

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.

FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL

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