Science for Sport Podcast

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.

His work sits at the intersection of sports science, computer vision, and performance technology, helping practitioners bring objective measurement to one of the most important areas of athlete development: strength training.

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

Why Female Physiology Still Needs Greater Attention in Sport with Dr Candice Macmillan

This week on the Science for Sport Podcast, host Richard Graves welcomes Dr Candice Macmillan, lecturer at the University of Pretoria, sports physiotherapist, and course author of “Contraceptives and the Female Athlete” on the Science for Sport platform.

As women’s sport continues to grow professionally around the world, understanding the unique physiological considerations of female athletes has never been more important. Yet many practitioners still feel underprepared when supporting athletes through topics such as the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptives, and their potential implications for performance, wellbeing, and decision-making.

Drawing on her background as a sports physiotherapist, researcher, and academic, Dr Macmillan explores how practitioners can better support female athletes through education, communication, and evidence-based decision making.

The conversation covers the complexity of hormonal contraceptives, how different types influence physiology and behaviour, and why awareness of factors such as testosterone suppression and symptom tracking may be crucial for athletes and support staff alike.

Perhaps most importantly, Dr Macmillan explains why empowering athletes to ask the right questions about their own health may be one of the most powerful tools practitioners can provide.

This episode offers valuable insights for sports scientists, strength and conditioning coaches, physiotherapists, and performance staff working across elite sport — while also opening up a conversation that continues to shape the future of female athlete support systems.

In This Episode You Will Learn

Why female athlete health remains one of the most misunderstood areas in elite sport

The difference between hormonal and non-hormonal contraceptives

Why the contraceptive pill is not a single solution and varies widely in composition

How hormonal contraceptives can influence testosterone levels and athlete behaviour

Why symptoms may impact performance more than hormone levels themselves

The importance of tracking menstrual symptoms for informed medical decisions

Why practitioners must help athletes learn the language to describe how they feel

The role communication plays between athletes, coaches and medical staff

How policy and education are shaping the future of female athlete support in sport

About Dr Candice Macmillan

Dr Candice Macmillan is a lecturer at the University of Pretoria, a qualified sports physiotherapist, and holds a PhD in Sports Physiotherapy.

Her work focuses on female athlete health, injury prevention, and performance, with a particular interest in how physiological factors influence training, recovery, and long-term athlete wellbeing. Through her academic and applied work, she aims to bridge the gap between research and real-world practice for practitioners working in sport.

Dr Macmillan is also the author of the “Contraceptives and the Female Athlete” course available on the Science for Sport platform, where she helps practitioners better understand the complexities of hormonal contraception and its potential implications for female athlete performance and health.

Her research and teaching continue to contribute to a growing body of work aimed at improving education, awareness, and practical support for female athletes across sport.

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

This week on the Science for Sport podcast, Richard Graves is joined by Emily Jacobson, Assistant Director of Sports Performance at Marquette University.

Emily has spent the past decade building and refining a sports science model within a relatively small department, working primarily with men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball. Alongside her role at Marquette, she also contributes to U.S. Soccer in a high-performance capacity.

In this conversation, we explore one of the most pressing challenges in applied sports science: how do you simplify complex data streams so they become actionable for coaches and meaningful for athletes?

From acute:chronic workload ratios and GPS monitoring to return-to-play frameworks and Power BI dashboards, Emily shares how she transformed “expensive toys” into effective performance tools.

She discusses the importance of visualisation, collaboration with data engineers, humility in decision-making, and why the “eyeball test” still matters in a world driven by wearables and AI.

For practitioners working in elite sport, or those building systems within constrained environments, this episode offers practical insight into making sports science more impactful, not just more complex.

In this episode you will learn:

How to simplify GPS and workload data for real-world application

Why acute:chronic workload ratios are a framework — not a solution

How to build effective data visualisations that coaches actually use

The difference between “expensive toys” and performance tools

How to structure phased return-to-play models with clear definitions

Why collaboration with data engineers and academics can transform departments

How to educate athletes in an era of AI, social media and misinformation

Why patience and long-term development still matter

How to adapt sports science systems in the transfer-portal era

Why relationships remain more important than technology

About Emily Jacobson

Emily Jacobson is the Assistant Director of Sports Performance at Marquette University, where she has worked for the past 10 seasons. A former Marquette women’s soccer student-athlete, she now oversees sports science and performance systems across multiple programmes, with a particular focus on soccer and volleyball.

She has helped develop load monitoring models, return-to-play protocols and data visualisation systems that integrate GPS, velocity-based training, force plates, motion capture and body composition analysis.

In addition to her work at Marquette, Emily serves as a network employee within U.S. Soccer’s high-performance department.

Her approach combines applied performance coaching, collaborative analytics, and a strong emphasis on education and athlete relationships.

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

Fresh from pre-season camp in Australia, Richard Graves sits down with Stan Parker, Sports Scientist at the Western Bulldogs, to explore how tracking data, contextual analytics, and interdisciplinary collaboration shape performance in elite AFL.

Stan’s journey spans the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL, Queensland Rugby Sevens, and now five seasons embedded within the Bulldogs’ high-performance programme, including a PhD focused on contextualising tracking data beyond simple load metrics.

This episode moves beyond “distance covered” and “top speed” to examine how sports science actually influences coaching decisions, athlete development, injury management, and tactical execution. From peak demand analysis and real-world decision-making under fatigue, to AI readiness and workflow efficiency, this is a grounded, practitioner-led conversation about where elite sport is really heading.

In this episode you will learn:

Why contextualising tracking data matters more than collecting more of it

How to compare peak training demands to peak match demands

The role of vision and video in translating data for coaches and players

How to build buy-in when athletes aren’t “numbers learners”

The balance between availability and performance in weekly competition cycles

How interdisciplinary decision-making works inside an AFL club

Why isolated fatigue “flags” can be misleading

How gym-based physical development can be directly tied to on-field outcomes

The importance of soft skills in high-performance environments

Where AI realistically fits (and doesn’t fit) in elite sports science

About Stan Parker

Stan Parker is a Sports Scientist with the Western Bulldogs in the AFL. He has previously worked with the Brisbane Broncos and Queensland Rugby Sevens, building experience across multiple elite sporting codes in Australia.

Stan is also completing a PhD focused on the contextualisation of tracking data in team sports, exploring how movement patterns and peak demands can better explain performance impact rather than serving purely as load monitoring tools.

He is particularly interested in bridging the gap between data analytics, coaching vision, and real-world performance application.

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

This episode explores what high performance really looks like inside two of the most demanding professional sporting environments in the world.

Richard Graves is joined by Brendan Fahrner, formerly Head of Sports Science at the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and previously a long-serving performance staff member at Richmond Football Club during one of the most successful periods in AFL history.

Across a career spanning AFL and NRL, Brendan has worked inside premiership-winning programs, navigated the evolution of GPS and performance analytics, and seen firsthand how elite sport has shifted from data accumulation to data translation.

In this conversation, he strips back the noise around technology and shares why soft skills, trust, and clarity of message ultimately drive performance outcomes. From simplifying GPS dashboards to building credibility with senior coaches, Brendan offers a grounded, practical perspective on what actually moves the needle in team sport.

He also speaks candidly about practitioner burnout, self-worth, and why sustainability in high performance careers is just as important as physical robustness in athletes.

This episode will resonate with sports scientists, S&C coaches, performance managers and aspiring practitioners looking to build impact in elite environments.

In this episode you will learn

Why high performance is more about relationships than periodisation

How to build trust quickly when entering a new club environment

The importance of simplifying data for coaches and athletes

How to align performance metrics with a coach’s game model

Why most GPS reports contain too much irrelevant data

How to identify the few variables that truly influence coach perception

Practical strategies for athlete-centric monitoring in squad settings

The crossover principles between AFL and NRL performance environments

How to translate analytics into language players understand

Why self-care and professional boundaries matter in elite sport

The importance of valuing yourself as a practitioner

About Brendan Fahrner

Brendan Fahrner is a high performance practitioner with extensive experience in elite Australian sport.

He began his career in the early adoption phase of GPS in the AFL, working with Richmond and later Geelong during a period of sustained premiership success. He spent the majority of his career at Richmond Football Club, contributing to three premiership titles and multiple finals campaigns.

Most recently, Brendan worked in the NRL with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, applying performance principles across codes and leading athlete monitoring and sports science integration within rugby league.

He has developed a strong reputation for simplifying complex performance data, building trust with athletes and coaches, and creating athlete-centred systems in high-pressure team environments.

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