Academy League Magazine Issue 5 - July / August 2015 | Page 21

It was with excitement and enthusiasm that I took the Academy League brand to the UK to launch the professional field testing solutions.

Professional field testing is an area of sports

science that has little control or monitoring

globally and with the support of SportTesting

Inc, Academy League has been expanding the

knowledge base and importance of accurate,

unbiased testing internationally.

With controlled combines taking place

throughout Canada, North America and Australia,

the UK was the next target market with Academy

League officially launching at the Elite Sports

Performance Expo in London, England in June.

The expo catered for all aspects of performance as

the "ultimate showcase of technology, training

techniques, analysis software, nutrition and equipment" and saw leaders from almost all sporting codes attending the exhibits and forums.

During the first day I had the privilege to lead a discussion on "Performance Data Essentials" in the main theatre offering advice on the importance of accurate data collection and the relevance of the results. This conversation was met with considerable support by the audience and highlighted some significant areas of misunderstanding in the management of data for talent identification and development.

Academy League as an organisation was designed from the base upwards in the format of franchising globally and the opporutunities for alliances to expand the network in England were very satisfactory with interest on a delivery perspective from federations including the English FA.

continued over

Graham in Bournmouth, England