IMPROVING SPORTING PERFORMANCE THROUGH
SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND TECHNOLOGY
IMPROVING SPORTING PERFORMANCE
THROUGH SCIENCE, MEDICINE & TECHNOLOGY
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The EIS helps elite athletes to improve
performance through the delivery of science,
medicine, technology and engineering.
Our employees have more than 1,100 years of collective experience and work
across more than 10 areas of expertise to provide a range of sport science
and medical services to improve the health, fitness, training, preparation – and
ultimately the performance – of elite athletes.
We are the team behind many of Great Britain’s most successful sports and
our 300 employees deliver more than 4,000 hours of service a week to over
1,700 athletes. At the London Olympic & Paralympic Games we worked with
86% of the medallists and 27 of the 29 sports that won a medal for Team GB.
These include Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Sir Chris Hoy,
Victoria Pendleton, Nicola Adams, Katherine Grainger, Ellie Simmonds, David
“The support UKA is able to provide me through the EIS
plays a key role in my day-to-day training as well as
competition. To have the edge in competition,
you need to make sure you continually look to
improve every aspect of preparation and
the EIS helps me make the most of
sport science and medical support in
achieving that. ”
Jessica Ennis-Hill,
2012 Olympic champion, Heptathlon
Weir, Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, Louis Smith, Rebecca Adlington and the
women’s bronze medal winning hockey team.
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IMPROVE ATHLETE
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EIS practitioners help coaches and Performance Directors to improve the
performance of their athletes by delivering services which enable them to
optimise training programmes, maximise performance in competition and
improve the health and wellbeing of their athletes. Services are delivered by
teams of practitioners and supported by specialist Research & Innovation
(R&I) programmes.
We also have a dedicated team of scientists that work with
The scale and infrastructure of the EIS, which is the
coaches and Performance Directors to feed the pipeline
country’s largest provider of sport science, medicine and
of new talent into sports. Delivered in partnership with
technology, also provides a range of added-value benefits
UK Sport, our talent development work activities aim to
to the sports we work with. These include access to
identify, recruit and progress the most promising young
world-class performance environments, the opportunity to
athletes and put in place the systems, pathways and
connect with globally renowned experts, access to cutting
support to facilitate their transition from talented junior to
edge innovation and research programmes and working
elite international performer.
on a day-to-day basis with teams of practitioners that are
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continuously developing and improving their knowledge
through on-going education and training.
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METHODOLOGY
At the EIS we think of ourselves as ‘the team behind the team’ and aim to
provide sports, coaches and athletes with the best package of support, delivered
by the best people in the best possible environment.
The Performance Partnership Plan captures all the components (and accompanying technical indicators) and will typically be
made-up of all, or some combination of, these three elements:
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SCIENCE AND MEDICAL STAFF
A combination of practitioners from a range of disciplines which may include sport medicine, physiotherapy, soft
Our job is to increase the probability of an athlete being
The starting point of every Performance Partnership Plan
tissue therapy, strength & conditioning, physiology, performance psychology, performance nutrition, performance
successful. Our approach to doing this is based on creating
is to work with the head coach or Performance Director
analysis, biomechanics, performance lifestyle and pathways.
a partnership with the sport whereby EIS practitioners
and establish “what it takes to win” for their athletes. This
are embedded into the daily training routine of the
would be based on both the expert opinion of the coach
athletes to provide them with the science, medical and
and analysis of the technical indicators required to be
technology support they need to achieve improvements in
successful in a particular event or discipline.
performance.
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ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Equipment, technology and accessories that can be used to support practitioners as well as specific projects.
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SUPPLEMENTARY SUPPORT & EXPERTISE
Once this has been set, the goal of winning is then broken
Projects, expertise and education to address specific performance issues and supplement the day-to-day service
Our relationships with a sport are headed-up by one
down into a prioritised plan to address optimisation of
provided by practitioners.
of our EIS Performance Leads. These are all experts in
training, preparation for competition and improving the
their field and serve as the primary contact for a coach or
health and wellbeing of the athlete or squad. A series of
Performance Director whom they work with to develop a
measurable technical indicators for each component of the
Performance Partnership Plan for the sport.
plan is identified to enable coaches and practitioners to
evaluate success and track progress.
Once the Performance Partnership Plan has been agreed a performance support team of practitioners works with the
athletes and coaches on a day-to-day basis at one of the nine EIS High Performance Centres or many partner sites. The EIS
also travels with teams to training camps and competitions at home and overseas.
Evaluation and monitoring are integral to the process. Technical indicators are consistently measured and the Performance
Partnership Plan reviewed to ensure it is delivering against its objectives and contributing to improvements in performance.
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SERVICE
PRIORITIES
Based on the approach set-out by the methodology, the services delivered by
the EIS aim to help athletes and coaches to optimise training programmes,
maximise competition day performance, improve athlete’s health and wellbeing
and to identify and develop talent.
OPTIMISE TRAINING PROGRAMMES
MAXIMISE COMPETITION PERFORMANCE
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IMPROVE ATHLETE HEALTH & WELLBEING
IDENTIFY & DEVELOP TALENT
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EIS SERVICE PRIORITIES
OPTIMISE TRAINING
PROGRAMMES
Ensuring athletes have a training programme which enables them to be in peak
condition for major competitions is a critically important part of the services
provided by the EIS to sports.
Our approach to training programmes aims to ensure
habilitation work to protect those parts of the body that
It may also include taking athletes to train at altitude to
To ensure the EIS remains at the front of technological
sports have the right level and blend of practitioner
will come under most strain and a system of monitoring
help their bodies acclimatise to conditions they expect
development and training science our practitioners also
expertise to enable their athletes to optimise training
and measuring to assess the impact of the programme.
to face at a particular competition or as part of training
undertake research or work with the EIS Research &
and achieve the technical indicators required to deliver
intervention to increase the mass of red blood cells
Innovation team to run special projects to investigate new
Services are delivered to athletes at EIS High Performance
(haemoglobin) in the blood, which is particularly beneficial
ways of tackling particular performance issues. This has
Centres, numerous partner sites as well as at training
in endurance sports. Alternatively these conditions can
led to numerous innovations that have helped to deliver
Training programmes are delivered by performance
camps and competitions around the world. These may
be re-created in the EIS laboratories where physiologists
improvements in sporting performance over the years.
support teams; a group of practitioners, embedded into
include warm weather training or camps with athletes
manipulate the training environment to replicate the
Specific examples include improving the aerodynamics of
sports under the leadership of a coach or Performance
from other countries, which are common in combat sports.
effects of altitude or reproduce the atmospheric conditions
bike design and the development of wrist splints for divers
Director, who work holistically to deliver performance
that an athlete can expect to face in a competition
which help to protect their joints when they hit the water
solutions.
destination.
at high speeds.
For example, a training programme to increase an athlete’s
One example of this is our work with British Cycling where
power may include input from a Strength & Conditioning
Performance Analysts and Physiologists have teamed-
Coach, a Physiotherapist, a Nutritionist and a Physiologist.
up to deploy a combination of video, GPS technology and
This team’s knowledge and expertise would combine
altitude simulation to replicate the experience of pedalling
to develop a regime that included exercises to improve
the actual routes of road cycling events around the world
strength and power, advice and guidance on nutrition, pre-
in the EIS laboratory at Sportcity in Manchester.
improvements in performance.
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CASE STUDY: IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY AND
IMPACT OF ALTITUDE TRAINING ACROSS
ENDURANCE SPORTS
Altitude training (>1800 meters above sea-level) is a
The test works through a device which enables athletes
common part of many training programmes and aims to
to breath and re-breath the same air. A low dose of
improve performance by stimulating a condition known as
carbon monoxide is pumped into this and attaches
hypoxia which causes the body to increase the mass of red
itself to some of the haemoglobin molecules creating
blood cells (haemoglobin) in the blood. Increased levels of
carboxyhaemoglobin. By measuring this, EIS physiologists
haemoglobin improves the delivery of oxygen to muscles
are able to accurately calculate the total mass of
and leads to better performance, particularly in endurance
haemoglobin in an athlete’s body.
sports that place a high priority on the body’s capability to
use oxygen to generate energy.
Working with our coaches is our sport science
and medical team from the EIS. The team covers
everything including medical issues and physio,
strength and conditioning, nutrition, psychology,
lifestyle and performance analysis and has been a
This development has led to a step change in the EIS
understanding of altitude training for endurance sports
Whilst this process works for some athletes and can lead
and means that physiologists are now able to measure the
to a high level of response, some find their response to
amount of haemoglobin in an athlete’s body before and
the stimulus provided by training at altitude is small or
after altitude training and thereby determine the extent to
negligible. These differences have placed a question mark
which they are a ‘responder’ or ‘non responder’.
over the effectiveness and value of running altitude camps,
which are costly and fraught with logistical issues, and led
The insight has been applied across a number of
EIS scientists to look at ways to improve the efficiency and
endurance sports, including athletics, triathlon, swimming
impact of altitude training.
and cycling and means that coaches and Performance
Directors can now be far more precise and better informed
In the course of the 2009-13 Olympic cycle, physiologists
in planning their altitude strategies and move towards a
massive factor in our success, giving our boxers a
from the EIS worked on a range of projects to increase
more individualised approach to this type of training which
understanding of altitude training which led to a significant
reflects the physiological make-up of the athlete.
performance edge over their opponents.
breakthrough in the development of a test using a carbon
Rob McCracken,
Performance Director, GB Boxing
monoxide re-breathing technique to enable scientists to
Simon Mills, Performance Development Manager, British
measure the amount of haemoglobin in an athlete’s blood.
Triathlon, said: “Altitude training is a significant element
This breakthrough was a step forward from previous
of our annual plan and it is important that we have the
techniques that had only been able to measure the
right support to maximise the impact of this intervention.
“concentration” of haemoglobin in the blood rather than
Having more and better information about the science
the actual amount (“mass”).
behind altitude training and the performance gains our
athletes have made has been vital and has influenced
the way we have planned and delivered our altitude
programme.”
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EIS SERVICE PRIORITIES
MAXIMISE COMPETITION
PERFORMANCE
Enabling athletes to deliver winning performances in major tournaments and
have the support they need to perform at their best in the heat of battle is one of
the key objectives of the services provided by the EIS and as athletes get closer
to major competitions this element of our service becomes more prominent.
Whereas optimising training is about helping athletes
Services to maximise competition performance cover
to build-up to peak physical condition and get the best
physical, mental and tactical aspects of preparation and are
long-term programme, our work to maximise competition
delivered by performance support teams of practitioners
performance is focused on the specific detail of getting
who aim to ensure athletes are in the best possible
things right on-the-day.
condition on competition day and have the capability to
find the extra one per cent that may be the difference
It covers a vast range of sports and types of contests
between winning and losing a medal. This area of work
such as individual races (for example, athletics, swimming,
may also be supplemented by technology and engineering
cycling or triathlon), team races (such as the majority
projects delivered by the EIS R&I team to improve kit and
of rowing and canoeing events), races against the clock
equipment.
(such as cycling time-trials and some equestrian events),
team matches (for example, hockey, rugby or football),
one-on-one contests (such as combat sports or games
PHYSICAL
From a physical point of view, a key aspect of our service
With most sports, some combination of an EIS
is to help athletes taper their training regimes so they
Physiotherapist, Nutritionist, Psychologist and a Doctor
remain in peak condition whilst reducing their training load.
will routinely travel to every major competition to ensure
Tapering strategies vary across sports and athletes and
consistent delivery of service and safeguard the health
our role is to advise on the best way to taper effectively
and fitness of the athlete. This is common across the vast
and, at the same time, adjust the service delivered to each
majority of sports we work with and was the case at the
athlete to reflect their reduced workload.
London 2012 Olympic Games where 46 EIS practitioners
were accredited members of Team GB working with the
Injury and illness prevention is also a critical element of
athletes in the Olympic Village and 41 provided support
service as athletes move into the competition stages of
remotely by travelling into the Village on day passes.
their regime. Practitioners will focus on pre-habilitation
work to protect those parts of the body most at risk of
injury and ensure that athletes are regularly monitored for
signs of illness or injury. Diets may be modified to reflect
a reduced training load yet ensure the athletes consume
the right amount and type of food to deliver the correct
nutritional balance they need to perform.
such as squash, badminton and table-tennis) or skillsbased competitions against a field of athletes (for example
archery, shooting or athletics field events).
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MENTAL
TACTICAL
Services to help athletes manage the mental challenge
Distraction was a particularly challenging performance
Another way in which the EIS provides support to athletes
or weakest. This can be used to influence how an athlete
of delivering their best performance at the biggest
issue at London 2012 where the unique situation of
during competitions is through tactical insights and
approaches contests against a particular opponent and can
tournaments are primarily delivered by the EIS
a home Olympics meant there was huge potential for
the work of our Performance Analysts who use video
often provide the extra one percent that is the difference
Performance Psychologists who work with the athletes
athletes to have their final preparations disrupted by
technology and data analysis to provide objective feedback
between winning and losing.
throughout their training programmes to help them
requests from those close to them. To help manage this,
and data to coaches.
develop the skills and capabilities to deal with a range of
the EIS performance lifestyle team worked with the British
situations and pressures.
Olympic Association (BOA) to deliver its “Friends & Family”
Performance Analysts work with coaches and athletes
is track cycling and the EIS has worked extensively with
programme across more than 30 sports.
throughout their training programme and their feedback
the British Cycling team for a number of years. It has a
can be used to help develop technique. However, during
group of Performance Analysts that travel with the team
Pressure training takes various forms and is focused on
One sport where performance analysis is very important
helping athletes to find a way of managing stress and
It involved hosting a series of workshops with athletes’
competitions their primary purpose is to provide feedback
to all major tournaments around the world and provide
preparing for events in a way that allows them to produce
friends and families prior to the games to explain how
and analysis on athletes and their opponents which can
the coaches and the riders with real-time analysis of their
their best. This involves helping athletes to work out
things would work during the Olympics. For each sport,
be used to influence tactics in competition. These insights
opponents that can be used to influence strategy and
competition day routines that suit them and develop
Performance Lifestyle Advisors were designated as central
can be used to highlight technical weaknesses in an
tactics from race-to-race during competitions.
mental “triggers” that enable them to manage pressure or
contacts for family and friends to call if they wanted to
opponent, pick-up trends in judges’ scoring or identify parts
aid motivation.
reach an athlete. In many cases, athletes were supplied
of a contest when an athlete or team is at its strongest
with new mobile phones for the duration of the Games
Reducing distractions and leaving athletes free to focus
which meant they had more control over the people to
totally on performance is a critically important aspect of
whom they spoke.
mentally preparing for competition and our Psychologists
and Performance Lifestyle Advisors have developed
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING
a range of practices to help athletes limit external
interferences.
Sports that work with the EIS also have the opportunity
areas of training science, performance medicine, equipment
to access the R&I team which deploys leading-edge
and coaching technologies, aims to achieve the marginal
technology, engineering and new research in science and
improvements that can be the difference between winning
medicine to help British athletes achieve improvements in
and losing a medal.
performance.
Examples of technology and engineering projects
The R&I team is closely aligned with the EIS performance
developed by the R&I team to assist athletes include:
teams and works with them to help practitioners address
aerodynamic packages for cycling and winter sliding sports,
specific performance issues. The ambitious research and
customised wheelchairs for paralympians and innovations
development programme; looking at innovation in the
in boat and paddle design for aquatic sports.
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CASE STUDY: HIGH INTENSITY WARM-UP OFFERS
A PERFORMANCE EDGE TO MIDDLE DISTANCE
RUNNERS
Although the warm-up is an accepted part of the race
“We wanted to find out if you could adapt what you do in
day routine for elite athletes, very little scientific research
the warm-up to see if it could enhance the physiological
into the efficacy of warm-up techniques exists, so in the
responses during performance and in turn if this could
course of the 2009-13, a group of Physiologists from
improve performance,” explained Dr Steve Ingham from the
EIS undertook a project to learn more about this area of
English Institute of Sport, who worked on the study with
performance.
colleagues, Dr Barry Fudge and Dr Jamie Pringle, along with
Andrew Jones from the University of Exeter.
In track athletic running events athletes typically employ
Sport science and medicine are inextricably linked
to performance and are areas that British Cycling
has continued to embrace. However, analysis by
statistics and technology whilst important, are not as
fundamental as their interpretation and the creative
use of such information. Over the past 10 years the
EIS and Olympic sports have leapt ahead and are
leading the way in the appliance of expertise and this
is down to the breadth of experts they employ.
Sir David Brailsford,
Performance Director, British Cycling 2003-2014
a warm-up procedure that includes low intensity jogging,
“The protocol was specifically designed to mimic the
mobilisation exercises and short duration fast running
routine of an athlete at a major competition, whereby an
‘strides’. The study aimed to compare this approach to
athlete would undertake the main body of their warm-up
warming-up for a middle distance race with a higher
but then find themselves in a holding area for between 20
intensity ‘priming’ warm-up and test the theory that a
to 30 minutes immediately prior to competition. This study
sustained bout of high intensity exercise could enhance
held the athletes for 20 minutes to simulate the call-room
performance.
conditions. The warm-up methods were also moulded
to get the physiological systems up and running but that
The sample was based on a group of 11 (7 male, 4 female)
they would be still switched on after the simulated holding
well-trained, middle distance runners of national and
period.
international standard who were asked to complete two
800 metre time-trials on separate days on an indoor track
“Performance was faster in the primed athletes, their
preceded by two different warm-up procedures.
oxygen uptake during the 800m race was greater, and
interestingly the racing profile showed that the athletes
In the first instance, the 800 metre time trial was preceded
fatigued less in the final 200-400m of the trial compared
by a traditional warm-up comprised of 10 minute self-
with a traditional warm-up. Whilst the magnitude of
paced jog and standardised mobility drills, followed by
the improvement might seem small 1.2 seconds (or
6x50 metre ‘strides’. The second, the warm-up comprised
approximately 1%), this would translate to 6 to 8 metres
of a 10 minute self paced jog and standardised mobility
difference in a race.”
drills, followed or 2 x 50 metre strides and a continuous
high intensity 200 metre run at race pace. Blood lactate
The findings represent a significant insight into the
was measured before the time trials and VO2 max was
potential impact of warm-up routines on performance in
measured breath-by-breath throughout exercise.
middle distance running along with other similar sports
that require a combination of speed and endurance.
The results showed that the second, higher intensity,
EIS scientists are continuing to work with a number of
‘priming’ warm-up appeared to be more effective and
athletics coaches on implementing the findings from this
improved stimulated performance in high-level track
research and have also shared them with a range of other
athletes, particularly in the latter part of the race, and has
Olympic sports that may benefit from the findings.
allowed athletes and their coaches to explore whether their
current warm-up procedures provide optimal preparation.
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CASE STUDY:
PENALTY CORNER ANALYSIS
HELPS HOCKEY HIT
THE TARGET
Penalty corners represent a significant scoring opportunity
The players were re-tested at six-week intervals over a six
in hockey and frequently account for more than a third of
month period to monitor progress and ensure they were
all goals scored in a tournament.
integrating the refinements into their technique on match
days.
Improving the conversion rate of penalty corners has
the potential to make a significant improvement in
The Women’s Assistant Coach, Karen Brown, said “The drag
performance and in their work with the women’s
flick is a very important skill in hockey and the 3D analysis
GB Hockey team, an EIS performance analyst and
work we did with the players allowed them to make
biomechanist have developed a method to help the team
some small alterations to their technique which not only
improve the technique of its players in this part of the
improved it and gave them greater power, but also gave
game.
them confidence that they were executing the technique
correctly.”
Using video analysis technology, the pair deployed cutting
edge 3D SIMI motion software to analyse the technique
The importance of penalty goals and working hard to
of the players when executing the drag flick, which is a
improve the players’ technique was validated in the
specialist scoring shot used during penalty corners.
critical third and fourth place play-off at the London 2012
Olympics when Great Britain’s women defeated New
Working with a small group of players, Alistair and
Zealand 3-1. All three goals can from penalty corners as
Matthew used two high speed cameras to film the players
Great Britain converted three of the six penalty corners
and obtain 3D footage which could then be digitised so that
they won in the course of the match. Speaking after the
it showed the chain of movements through the legs, arms
game, the scorer of Great Britain’s second goal, Crista
and the stick.
Cullen, said: “We’ve got one of the best penalty corner
It enabled them to show the athletes what they were
routines here at this tournament. We just had to keep
doing in great detail and with the help of their coaches they
winning them.”
looked at ways of refining their technique to maximise the
power they could generate when striking the ball.
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EIS SERVICE PRIORITIES
IMPROVE ATHLETE
HEALTH & WELLBEING
Injury and illness are two of the biggest factors that prevent athletes from
achieving improvements in performance. They result in a loss of training days
and cause athletes to miss major championships, so one of the most important
areas of service provided by the EIS practitioners is our work to improve health
and wellbeing and to reduce the incidence and protraction of injuries.
This form of rehabilitation is based on developing an
designed to support athlete rehabilitation which provides
individualised methodology for treating the athlete and
a residential service for athletes to work solely on recovery
a multi-disciplinary, whole-body approach to treatment.
and rehabilitation away from the pressures of their usual
It incorporates a wide range of experts from the first
training environment. It works in partnership with EIS
consultation, typically including a Doctor, Physiotherapist,
Doctors and practitioners from across the network and is
Strength & Conditioning coach and a Physiologist. As the
staffed by a full-time rehabilitation manager, Physiologist,
Research and analysis into understanding when athletes
Injury prevention techniques also include sport specific
athlete recovers, the team will be expanded to include a
Physiotherapist and Strength & Conditioning coach.
are most susceptible to injury is critical to this and
interventions designed to address particular types of
Performance Psychologist and a Performance Nutritionist
underpins the day-to-day work of practitioners in helping
injury risk that may be peculiar to a sport. For example,
to support the athlete’s mental well-being and ensure their
By providing the opportunity for athletes to live on-site for
to maximise athlete health and minimise days lost to
in the 2009-13 Olympic cycle, the EIS Physiotherapist and
diet reflects their rehabilitation needs.
weeks at a time, the IRU allows individuals to spend more
injury.
Doctor that work with the GB Boxing squad developed and
hours working on rehabilitation which enables them to
implemented a new way for the boxers to wrap their hands
The rehabilitation method is solutions-based and aims to
work more intensely with practitioners on a one-to-one
Much of this work focuses on prevention and developing
that led to a significant drop in the number of hand injuries
identify the specific problems an athlete faces and agree
basis as the athlete to practitioner ratio is much smaller
techniques and interventions that reduce the incidence of
sustained by the athletes.
the ‘solutions’ to overcome these along with the metrics
than those at a traditional training camp or performance
and objective indicators that can be used to track progress.
centre.
‘preventable’ injuries and illnesses. Services are delivered
by inter-disciplinary teams of practitioners and take a
When injuries do occur the EIS has developed an approach
The process of rehabilitation is delivered intensively
whole-body approach with a focus on pre-habilitation work
to intensive rehabilitation that has shortened the time it
whereby the athlete’s treatment schedule is rigorously
Feedback from athletes that have spent time recovering
to make the athlete as robust as possible by strengthening
takes to recover and return to high performance training
timetabled from morning until evening over a period of
at the IRU is extremely positive and the facility has an
those parts of the body which come under most stress.
and elite-level competition.
weeks and months to allow for work on every aspect of
excellent track record of shortening the time it takes
their recovery in a series of 30 minute sessions.
athletes to recover from injury or surgery and return safely
These will vary from sport to sport so the regime for a
This has delivered a significant performance benefit to a
swimmer will be very different to that of a cyclist or a long
range of sports both by reducing the number of training
As part of its rehabilitation services, the EIS funds and
jumper. Monitoring by physiologists, who run tests to
days lost to injury and in a series of ‘race against time’
manages the Team GB Intensive Rehabilitation Unit (IRU)
measure how the body is responding to training regimes
situations where individuals have been able to return
at Bisham Abbey in partnership with the British Olympic
and environments, also provides intelligence and can act
to fitness in time to compete or be selected for major
Association (BOA). The IRU is a world-leading facility
as an early warning sign which enables practitioners and
championships.
to high performance training and competing at an elite
level.
coaches to detect signs of injury or illness and take steps
to prevent this worsening.
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CASE STUDY: INTENSIVE REHABILITATION WINS
RACE AGAINST TIME TO SECURE A GOLD MEDAL
I wanted to get back into training as soon as possible, my
coach and the physiotherapist (Emma Deakin from the
EIS) looked at the options for me to get running but at
a reduced load and the underwater treadmill came up.
Although I needed more physiotherapy and have had to
adapt my training whilst I recovered, I was able to train
across all three disciplines.
Alistair Brownlee,
2012 Olympic champion, Triathlon
In March 2011, slalom canoeist, Etienne Stott, suffered a
Progress was good and once Etienne began to recover and
traumatic dislocation of his shoulder. It came less than six
regain strength in his shoulder he went to the Team GB –
months before the world championship which was also
Intensive Rehabilitation Unit at Bisham Abbey where he
the final qualifying event for London 2012 and plunged
spent two-weeks at the residential facility working solely
him into a race against time to recover and return to
on all aspects of rehabilitation.
competition to compete in the Olympic qualifier.
By the time Stott returned he was already back on the
From the moment the accident happened speed was of
water just 10 ½ weeks since his operation and nearly two
the essence and because British Canoeing was supported
weeks ahead of schedule. He went on to prove his fitness
by a team of EIS practitioners, it meant the process of
for selection and at the world championships in Slovakia
recovery and rehabilitation could begin immediately.
in September 2011 Etienne and Tim Baillie won a bronze
An EIS Sports Physician, accompanied Etienne to the
medal and secured Olympic qualification. The pair topped
hospital where his shoulder was relocated and an EIS
this at London 2012 winning gold in the Canoe Slalom C2.
Physiotherapist, booked him in for surgery with a leading
shoulder specialist.
Etienne said: “The speed at which everything came
together was crucial not just in terms of my physical
The professional set up of the sport and the medical team
at British Gymnastics now is amazing. When I suffered
my knee injury ahead of London I thought it was the end.
But, within 48 hours I’d had a scan and was lined up for
surgery – when I first started Gymnastics I remember it
could take weeks even to get a scan. Every moment of my
week was planned around my rehab and training.
Beth Tweddle,
2012 Olympic bronze medallist, Gymnastics
Normally this type of injury would warrant at least 12
recovery, but also my state of mind. It was ambitious, but
weeks out of the water followed by a gradual return to
in my mind it had to be done and I trusted my support.
training, however, with just 20 weeks to go until the world
The plan was managed really well so that I was always
championship selection, a plan was developed to help
raring to move on to the next stage of rehabilitation, whilst
shorten the period of rehabilitation and enable Etienne to
great care was taken at every level to ensure there were
return to full training in time to prove his fitness for world
no setbacks along the way. I had clear goals and always
championship selection.
understood exactly where I was on the plan, so I always felt
I was moving forwards.”
A team of practitioners including a Physiotherapist, a
Strength & Conditioning Coach and a Nutritionist worked
with the Doctors to develop a recovery plan based on
physio sessions to mobilise the shoulder, gym work, which
began two weeks after the operation under careful limits,
and nutrition support. An external sports psychologist was
also part of the team.
25
4
EIS SERVICE PRIORITIES
IDENTIFY AND
DEVELOP TALENT
Whereas the other EIS service priorities are concentrated on helping to
improve the performance of elite athletes already on world class performance
programmes, this aspect of our work is more focused on the longer term and
aims to create systems to deliver on-going, sustained success by developing
pathways to identify and nurture future talent and facilitate its progression
through the high performance system.
Other services include research projects to investigate
key issues and provide sports with insights and a greater
understanding of the route to excellence in elite sport.
We also help sports to identify and enlist new talent and
have run a series of national recruitment campaigns.
The campaigns have traditionally focused on identifying
key sporting characteristics indicative of future potential
through a multi-phased assessment and trialling process
and have assessed more than 7,000 athletes since 2007.
Working in conjunction with UK Sport, our activities are
development and look at a range of topics such as athlete
delivered by a team of sport scientists that focus on talent
profiling, tracking and benchmarking, and optimising talent
Over 100 athletes recruited through these talent
development and provide a series of services covering
development environments.
campaigns have been selected to participate in a world
class talent development programme in sports including
technical support and education, benchmarking, research
and recruitment campaigns to help sports and national
Benchmarking and helping sports to establish objective
rowing, canoeing and taekwondo. These athletes have
governing bodies (NGBs) improve their performance
indicators that enable them to measure and compare
made over 300 international appearances and won more
pathways.
the capabilities of athletes is a critically important part
than 100 international medals including one gold, one silver
of talent development. Our sport science professionals
and a bronze at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Technical support for pathway managers and coaches
have developed a series of specialist diagnostic tools to
Games.
includes a bespoke education programme comprised of
support and inform this aspect of the talent process and
residential workshops and international study visits to
deploy them to help sports benchmark their performance
enhance understanding of talent development and building
pathways and develop systems to measure the capabilities
world leading performance pathways. The workshops
of their athletes.
feature guest speakers with a proven track-record in talent
27
Four years ago Helen Glover had never even stepped
CASE STUDY: SPORTING GIANT TURNS GOLDEN GIRL
THANKS TO TALENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
foot in a rowing boat. Yesterday she stood by the
Rower, Helen Glover is one of the biggest success stories
Helen’s progress was rapid and in 2009 she won gold in
waterside in Eton Dorney clutching one of Britain’s
of our talent development work and won a gold medal
the senior single scull at Henley. In 2010 she delivered a
in women’s coxless pair at the London 2012 Olympics,
breakthrough performance, along with crewmate Heather
after being recruited into the sport in 2008 as part of the
Stanning, in the women’s pair by doggedly hanging on to
Sporting Giants Campaign.
the coat-tails of the reigning champions from New Zealand
first two gold medals. None of it would have been
to win a silver medal in the World Championships. The pair
possible had the Truro-based teacher not taken
Helen grew up in Penzance and played a range of sports
followed this up with gold in the 2011 World Cup series in
from an early age. By the age of 14 she was playing hockey
Munich and a victory over the world champions from New
the spontaneous decision to respond to an advert
for the England satellite squad and was the captain of her
Zealand in the final World Cup event in Lucerne.
seeking unusually tall and fit people to become
tennis to a high standard. When she left school, Helen
Two more victories in Belgrade and Lucerne in the first
decided to pursue her love of sport by taking a degree in
two World Cup events of 2012 meant they approached
Sport and Exercise science at the University of Wales and
London in confident mood and Helen and Heather did not
pursuing a career as a PE teacher.
disappoint at the Olympic Games when they memorably
potential Olympic athletes.....as part of the “Sporting
Giants” scheme.
county team. She also swam competitively and played
took gold at Eton Dornay, less than five years after Helen
Her career path changed in 2008 when she responded to
had first taken-up the sport.
an advert to try-out for the Sport Giants campaign. The
The Independent,
2 August 2012
campaign aimed to discover young people who could be
Helen recalled: “I remember sitting in a room in Bisham
fast-tracked into sports, particularly rowing, handball and
Abbey and someone saying: ‘A gold medallist in 2012 could
volleyball. The basic criteria was that candidates must be
be sat in this room. Look around you’. I thought: ‘Right, I’m
tall, a minimum of 6ft 3in for men and 5ft 11in for women,
going to make that me’.”
be between 16 and 25 and have some sort of athletic
background.
She added: “I hope my story can be an inspiration for kids in
PE or at home thinking about taking up a new sport. Just
Thousands attended the day, which included a series
go on, go for it - you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
of tests to determine the athletic capability of the
respondents. Despite having never having rowed in her
life, Helen exhibited many of the traits required to be an
elite rower and in 2008 she was placed onto GB Rowing’s
Start programme in Bath where she was coached by Paul
Stannard.
29
ADDED VALUE
As the country’s largest provider of sport science, medicine and technology
with more than 300 employees the EIS has a scale and infrastructure which
enables the athletes, coaches and NGBs we work with to secure a range of
added value benefits in the form of world-class performance environments,
continually developing practitioners, access to world-leading expertise and
cutting edge innovation.
Better facilities and support from the EIS, on everything from nutrition
to performance analysis, has moved us from being ranked seventh in
the world to a team achieving bronze at the Olympics.
Hannah MacLeod,
GB Hockey Olympic bronze medallist
PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENTS
Through its network of nine High Performance Centres
All of our Performance Analysts and Biomechanists are
across England, the EIS is able to provide athletes and
supplied with leading-edge, high speed technology which
coaches with access to high quality facilities that are
they use to support their work and provide coaches and
up. It will be great to work in a gym that has been purpose-built for the
specifically designed for elite athletes.
athletes with access to thousands-of-pounds-worth of
needs of high performance athletes and I am sure it will be inspiring
technology and kit. Through our R&I team we also run
Our sites are operated in conjunction with a range of
special projects to look at news ways of using technology
partners, including Sport England, local authorities
or develop new products and kit that have the potential to
and Universities. Many of these have benefitted from
improve performance.
significant financial investment in recent years and mean
that athletes and coaches are able to train and work in
“The new gym will be a significant improvement on the previous set-
for all of us to train in an environment where we will be surrounded by
elite athletes from other sports.”
Michael Jamieson,
200 metres breaststroke silver medallist
world-class facilities which include a range of features
specifically designed for elite performers such as high
performance gyms, physiology laboratories, medical and
physiotherapy facilities, performance analysis suites and a
vast array of technology and equipment.
31
QUALITY PRACTITIONERS
Our employees have more than 1,100 years of collective
experience in the delivery of performance impacting sport
Numerous further opportunities for continuous personal
35 members of staff are currently enrolled in an MSc or
Our employees are also given opportunities to attend and
science, medicine, technology and engineering to elite
development exist through on-the-job learning, mentoring,
PhD. Since 2010, four practitioners have completed a PhD
speak at conferences and events around the world and
sport. Our experts have worked with hundreds of Olympic
access to technology, equipment and expertise and the EIS
or MSc and three have secured the IOC Diploma in Sports
develop relations with globally-renowned experts. This
medallists and more than three quarters of our staff have
National Conference. This is an annual, two-day event that
Nutrition.
culture of personal development combined with a rigorous
worked at one or more summer Olympic Games. The EIS
brings together all of our employees and creates a platform
medical expertise is world-class with 18 of our 22 Sport
to share knowledge, best practice and new insights
Underpinning all of this, the EIS aims to foster a culture
the athletes and coaches we work with and provides them
and Exercise Physicians are on the General Medical Council
and ideas. Together with other team focused learning
of continuous learning and personal development. We
with on-going access to practitioners that are continually
(GMC) specialist register.
experiences, such as our programme of workshops,
are improving the systems we have in place to collect,
developing their capabilities and increasing the level of
expertise they are able to provide to sports and NGBs.
focus on professional advancement brings huge benefits to
forums and symposia, it helps to build and solidify the
share and disseminate leading-edge thinking and practice
Continuously developing the expertise and capabilities of
connectivity between the network of practitioners and
across all areas of expertise. This ensures practitioners
our practitioners is critical to the ongoing success of the
create opportunities to share and scrutinise case work and
have access to the latest developments in sport science
organisation and we place a great deal of emphasis on
new innovations in the practice and application ofscience,
and sport medicine in both their own area of expertise and
creating opportunities for EIS employees at all levels to
medicine, technology and engineering in sport.
those with cross-disciplinary applications.
extend their knowledge and expertise and, at the same
time, acquire the skills required to have a successful career
Beyond these in-house opportunities, EIS practitioners
in high performance sport.
are also encouraged to continue their professional and
academic development through publishing research
New joiners are provided with a tailored induction
or pursuing further qualifications. Financial support is
programme designed to suit the particular requirements
available for both and the EIS currently has a number
of the sport and the athletes they work with. This is
practitioners developing research projects into a diverse
especially important for younger practitioners, or those in
range of areas including tapering strategies, adaptation,
their first or second job, who may have less experience of
pressure training and the role of nutrition in strengthening
the specific demands of working with high performance
bones and reducing injury.
athletes and coaches on a day-to-day basis.
33
4000
300
Delivering more than
Employees
ACCESS TO WORLD-LEADING EXPERTISE
In addition to our 300 employees the EIS also has links
This includes access to a team of Special Advisors and the
with a host of external associates which provide the
EIS’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) which was established
organisation with access to an unrivalled level of expertise
in 2013. The TAG is a collection of world-renowned experts
on sport science, medicine, technology and engineering.
from high performance sport and provides technical
It enables practitioners to seek advice, share knowledge
support and advice to the Board of the EIS and our
and call-upon expertise from inside and outside of
practitioners. It acts as a strategic sounding board for the
the organisation to help address issues and develop
organisation and provides connections and access to other
performance solutions.
world-leading networks, institutions and individuals that
hours of service per week
Whether it’s innovative research, unique collaborations or
All projects delivered by the R&I team are performance-led
developments through the EIS R&I team, sports working
and the scope of work covers anything from the research,
with the EIS benefit from its ongoing drive to stay at the
design and development of a new piece of equipment to
forefront of science, medicine, technology and engineering
new research to help better understand specific issues and
to improve sporting performances.
achieve breakthroughs in training science, performance
years collective experience
LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES
The EIS worked with...
86%
of Medallists
practitioners can contact for help and advice.
CUTTING EDGE INNOVATION
1100
with over
27/29
of medal
winning sports
These include:
medicine and coaching equipment and technologies.
The R&I team is closely aligned with the EIS performance
teams and works with them to help practitioners address
specific performance issues or deploy technology and
engineering to develop kit, equipment or new approaches
to help athletes achieve the tiny improvements in
performance that can be the difference between winning
and losing.
Jessica Ennis-Hill
David Weir
Mo Farah
Sir Bradley Wiggins
Ellie Simmonds
www.eis2win.co.uk
[email protected]
ENGLISH INSTITUTE OF SPORT
National Office
Sportcity
Gate 13, Rowsley Street
Manchester, M11 3FF
Tel: +44 (0)870 759 0400