Strength and conditioning coach for field-sport athletes in Melbourne

Quicker when it counts, and still on the pitch at the end of the season.

Most athletes train hard. Very few are coached around their sport, their training age and where they are in the season. That's how I coach. For male and female athletes, high school age and above, playing AFL, soccer and other field sports across Melbourne's inner north.

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WHY PEOPLE CALL ME

  • That's rarely bad luck. A previous hamstring injury is the best predictor of the next one. Across 78 studies and more than 71,000 athletes, any history of hamstring injury raised the risk 2.7 times, and a recent one 4.8 times [1]. Usually the leg has gone back to playing without the strength and high-speed running the game asks of it. That's what we rebuild, before you play again.

  • Cleared generally means the injury has healed. It doesn't mean you're ready to play. Weeks out leave you deconditioned, and that doesn't come back on its own.

    The international consensus is that return to sport happens in stages (back to training, back to playing, back to performing) and that you move through them on what you can do, not on how many weeks it's been [2]. It matters. In one two-year study, athletes who failed return-to-sport testing reinjured at 38%, against 6% for those who passed [3].

  • Speed is what I'm strongest on. Very few community athletes do any sprint technique work, or the strength work underneath it. I coach acceleration, top speed, change of direction and deceleration the way they happen in a game, not on a track.

    If you're still growing, it may just be timing. In youth soccer the link between maturity and 15 m sprint speed is trivial at under-11 and large by under-15 [4], so a player a year behind biologically looks slower for reasons that have nothing to do with ability. I can estimate where you are from your height, sitting height and age [5]. Either way, knowing why you're slower usually tells us what to do about it.

  • Selection usually comes down to four things: attitude, technical skill, tactical understanding and physical ability. Only the last is mine. Where the gap is physical, I break it down (acceleration, deceleration, change of direction and top speed, to name but a few) and work on whichever one is holding you back.

    In junior pathways it isn't always about ability. Across English academies, players born in the first quarter of the selection year were over five times more likely to be selected than those born in the last [6]. In one national selection study, the physical differences between selected and non-selected players disappeared once maturity was accounted for [7].

  • Most community clubs are run by volunteers who played the sport themselves, and very few have a qualified strength and conditioning coach. That's not a criticism. It's how community sport is resourced. It does mean the physical side of the game often goes uncoached. That's the part I coach, built around your sport and your season.

  • Strength and conditioning for women starts where it does for anyone: your sport, your position, your training history and where you are in the season. The program is built for you.

    1. Green B, Bourne MN, van Dyk N, Pizzari T. Recalibrating the risk of hamstring strain injury (HSI): a 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis of risk factors for index and recurrent hamstring strain injury in sport. Br J Sports Med. 2020;54(18):1081-1088. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-100983

    2. Meredith SJ, Rauer T, Chmielewski TL, et al. Return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament injury: Panther Symposium ACL Injury Return to Sport Consensus Group. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2020;28(8):2403-2414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-020-06009-1

    3. Grindem H, Snyder-Mackler L, Moksnes H, Engebretsen L, Risberg MA. Simple decision rules can reduce reinjury risk by 84% after ACL reconstruction: the Delaware-Oslo ACL cohort study. Br J Sports Med. 2016;50(13):804-808. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2016-096031

    4. McCunn R, Weston M, Hill JKA, Johnston RD, Gibson NV. Influence of physical maturity status on sprinting speed among youth soccer players. J Strength Cond Res. 2017;31(7):1795-1801. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001654

    5. Mirwald RL, Baxter-Jones ADG, Bailey DA, Beunen GP. An assessment of maturity from anthropometric measurements. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2002;34(4):689-694. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005768-200204000-00020

    6. Lovell R, Towlson C, Parkin G, Portas M, Vaeyens R, Cobley S. Soccer player characteristics in English lower-league development programmes: the relationships between relative age, maturation, anthropometry and physical fitness. PLoS One. 2015;10(9):e0137238. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0137238

    7. Leyhr D, Rösch D, Cumming SP, Höner O. Selection-dependent differences in youth elite basketball players' relative age, maturation-related characteristics, and motor performance. Res Q Exerc Sport. 2024;95(3):775-788. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2024.2311644

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

Neil is engaging and fun to work with. He conditioned a junior boys soccer team, often with 15 players. Not an easy task - but the kids enjoyed themselves and benefited from his experience. Most importantly, Neil speaks with a calm authority.

Mike Grier, Football Coach

Neil is great at what he does and really knows his stuff when it comes to strength and conditioning. He’s written a number of rehab programs for me that have helped me recover properly and get back to playing footy feeling strong and confident.

Mo, Senior AFL Player

I took my Son to Neil for Strength and Conditioning training for soccer. In truth he has given so much more. The attention to detail in gym and the knowledge he has given to my son is second to none. Training to be a physio has also meant that he has been alert to any niggles he has had from playing soccer, and is quick recommending further consultation. He has also tailored our package to keep costs to a minimum. Overall a fantastic service.

Adam, Parent of a Soccer Player

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