After a stonking weekend of sport, with so many events coming to a climax, it is worth remembering the importance of the lull after the storm. For the French national team, Angelique Kerber and Novak Djokavic there is the thrill…
There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it. Alfred Hitchcock There are 3 ways to slow down time. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster anything travels, the slower time passes, known as…
As exam season looms for many students young and old, I wondered what we would see in the study rooms, mental-athlete village, warm-up areas and hear from the coaches pep-talks if exams appeared at the Olympics. Here are some thoughts…
“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” John F. Kennedy I was recently invited once again to speak at the brilliant Cheltenham Science Festival in June. It is always a privilege to be surrounded by not only…
“There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.” – Salvador Dali Many people have acted as mentors, coaches or trusted advisor throughout my career. I wouldn’t have been inspired…
The tale goes that at a dinner with Wordsworth, the poet Keats, toasted “confusion to the memory of Newton…because he destroyed the poetry of the rainbow by reducing it to a prism”. Three years later Keats confirmed his disdain by…
Do you ever get that feeling, when you’ve got a win, a breakthrough or a reward – you just want to go and tell someone? I had it just the other day, when I hopped onto a train just as…
In 1958, as NASA began it’s search for aerospace pilots, the job description listed the need for the following characteristics; · Male (how 1950s?) · Approx 5’11” /180cm · Aged between twenty-five and forty · A science degree ·…
In 2005 I was moving on from my role as Exercise Physiologist and Sport Science Manager at the British Olympic Association and starting in a role as Technical Lead Physiologist at the English Institute of Sport. Part of that…
If I look back over my career as a sports scientist working in elite high-performance, there is one key concept that I wish I had had in place much earlier. I came across this concept, received some training and acquired…