The AIS has a large number of departments staffed with specialists who work across a range of areas to support the development of elite athletes. These staff members, commonly referred to as ‘service providers’ (SPs), are employed at the AIS to ‘service’ athletes to support their performance potential. ‘Servicing’ involves consulting (listening, observing, measuring and monitoring) athletes’ bodies and treating (healing, soothing, rehabilitating and disciplining) symptoms that impinge on athletes’ training and performance. Every sport at the AIS has at least one SP from each department assigned to service its athletes.
SPs are instrumental in training elite athletes. Some commonalities across the different types of SP include: a personal interest in sport and often a background in amateur (and sometimes elite) sporting competition; science, medicine or sports studies education; an attentiveness to health and fitness; and the fact that they are usually driven, hardworking, professionals. SPs consult with athletes as needed (for some this means every day, for others it means weekly or only every couple of months). SPs attend weekly staff meetings to keep abreast of individual athletes’ progression as well as the team’s performance, health and wellbeing, and use their expertise to help facilitate the development and success of individual athletes and teams. Therefore, beyond the immediate inner circle of the team or squad of athletes in each sport, the next layer of intimacy is the support staff. Below I list the SPs at the AIS and provide some information about their roles.
Sports Coaches
Sports coaches are a type of SP, although they are categorised separately as ‘coaches’.32 Coaches are the most important SPs because they work closely and
directly with athletes on a daily basis. Coaches work only with athletes in their particular sport, whereas other SPs are responsible for athletes in multiple sports, and this distinction is emphasised in the differentiated geographical positioning of SPs on campus. Coaches’ offices are located next to the relevant sporting facility premises while all the other SP’s offices are located in the sports science and sports medicine building. This organisational separation aligns coaches with athletes and the purview of a specific sport, while other SPs are aligned with the science and medicine of sports and athletes.
32 From now I shall merely refer sport-specific coaches as ‘coaches’, who are differentiated from strength
Team sports, including basketball, have three types of coaches: a head coach, an assistant coach and what is referred to as a ‘scholarship coach’. Each coach plays a different role within a hierarchical structure. The head coach has the most status, authority and experience. Central to his or her role is planning and directing training, instructing athletes in the techniques of the game, directing the conditioning of players to achieve maximum athletic performance, assessing players’ skills, assigning players’ positions and evaluating the team’s and opposing teams’ capabilities to determine game strategy. An assistant coach’s role is primarily to support the head coach. Consequently, an assistant coach’s status, authority and experience is always subordinate to those of the head coach. Some assistant coaches have direct coaching responsibilities, while others respond to the head coach's directives. It is the assistant coach’s role to make sure players, equipment and facilities are well-prepared and organised. To do this they perform administrative tasks outside of training to enable the head coach to coach with ease. For instance, assistance coaches conduct weekly inspections of athletes’ pods (bedrooms and apartments at ‘ressies’) to make sure athletes are keeping their living spaces clean and neat – if they are dirty or unkempt, athletes are punished during training and made to do penalty exercises by the head coach. Finally, a scholarship coach is employed for two years as an apprentice senior coach. Their title signifies that these coaches are learning, and their role is finite, but the title is probably misleading as these coaches are not on scholarships. They are paid employees and titles such as ‘trainee coach’, ‘junior coach’ or ‘apprentice coach’ are arguably more appropriate. A scholarship coach is usually tasked with duties that aid the other coaches (in essence they are an assistant coach’s assistant). Commonly this more junior coach is considerably younger and less experienced than the more senior coaches. His or her role is to perform the less
authoritative ‘grunt work’ (time consuming tasks, such as collating and coding video footage of training). The scholarship coach’s lesser authority, experience and age often facilitates a more jovial relationship with athletes, in contrast to the more authoritative relationship between athletes and senior coaches.33
AIS individual sports, including swimming, have one coach per squad and do not have staff fulfilling the roles of assistant coach or scholarship coach. For instance, in swimming there are four squads and each squad has one coach. These coaches set daily training schedules, instruct technique, determine discipline policies for athletes and negotiate long term and short term training cycles and associated goals. From the four swimming squad coaches, one coach is appointed head coach with authority over the others. The head coach has authority over the administration, organisation and discipline of athletes and staff.
Individual sport athletes typically have intimate working relationships with their coaches as they work closely together for long periods each day over many years. If, or when, a coach of an individual sport leaves the AIS to work elsewhere their athletes often follow them, whereas in team sports, athletes usually stay with the team or programme.
Doctors
AIS sports physicians, referred to as ‘doctors’ or ‘docs’, consult athletes with injuries or illness, or athletes who wish to discuss aspects of injury and illness prevention. Doctors are a significant and authoritative service provider. Doctors’ decisions about whether an athlete is fit, healthy and well enough to train and compete override any other SP’s opinion or treatment, including those of coaches.
33 Athletes have intimate working relationships with head coaches and assistant coaches, but as
scholarship coaches are younger and have less authority – and do not make final decisions about things, such as recruitment – they are less intimidating.
If an athlete has any physical, mental or emotional illness or injury, AIS doctors will be involved in his or her treatment. Before an athlete is recruited he or she will undergo a medical screening conducted by an AIS sports physician to make sure they are medically fit to train, and in optimal health to perform.34
Nurses
Registered nurses make a crucial contribution to athlete care and are responsible for dressing injuries, providing immunisations, taking blood and dispensing medications. The nursing staff supervise and maintain the AIS pharmacy.35
Physiotherapists
AIS physiotherapists, referred to as ‘physios’, are specially trained to work with sports injuries to help athletes recover, and to provide education and resources to prevent problems. Prior to recruitment, physiotherapists conduct injury screening to assess the health and performance of a potential athlete to determine if their body is capable of withstanding the volume and intensity of elite sport. Physiotherapists assist sporting performance and recovery as well as injury prevention through the use of effective treatment, management techniques and exercise protocols. Athletes are encouraged to visit physiotherapists (after seeing their doctor) in response to any pain, extreme soreness, tightness or stiffness in their bodies (for example muscles and joints). Consequently athletes typically have individual consultations with their team physiotherapist on a regular basis.36
34 The head of medicine explained that “ideally we would always have at least one female sports physician
on staff, but as there are fewer female sports physicians available (because working in the private sector is significantly more lucrative than working here) it can be difficult”. For the duration of my fieldwork the five doctors were all male, two were in their mid-thirties, one in his mid-forties, another in his mid-fifties and another in his early-sixties.
35 The three nurses employed during my fieldwork were all women in their early-fifties.
36 During my fieldwork the AIS had eight physiotherapists. These included male and female staff ranging
Soft Tissue Therapists
Soft tissue therapists, colloquially known as ‘masseurs’, massage athletes to alleviate tight muscles and treat sports injuries. Athletes are entitled, and encouraged, to have weekly massages to assist their recovery and sporting performance.37
Sports Psychologists
Sports psychology is a crucial component of athletes’ training. Athletes undergo an initial wellbeing and mental health screening as part of their recruitment process to identify any clinical issues and the state of their mental health. During AIS training athletes are provided with customised and integrated psychological services to meet the specific needs of individuals aligned with their sport. Sports psychologists develop athletes’ ‘podium preparedness’ and performance psychology through education and training of psychological skills and exercises in order to: promote systematic self-regulation of thinking, energy, emotion, and attention; create a productive team environment; and grow leadership and communication skills (Australian Sports Commission 2013). Sports psychology is also used to ‘restore performance’ by fostering recovery from injury, performance slumps, and training stress; cultivate psychological resilience and coping skills; and manage interpersonal conflict. Finally, sports psychologists assist athletes’ mental health and wellbeing, beyond performance, throughout their AIS training by screening, managing, and coordinating support, encouraging healthy life balance and facilitating sport and career transitions.38
37 During my fieldwork there were eight soft tissue therapists. These included male and female staff
ranging in age from late-twenties to mid-forties.
38 During my fieldwork the nine AIS sports psychologists were predominantly female, with a few male staff
Physiologists
The AIS physiology department has the most staff across the AIS sports science and sports medicine departments with nineteen staff members. To provide direct sports science support, with laboratory and field-based testing and scientific activities, physiologists record athletes’ bodies and behaviour during rest, recovery and activity. Physiologists typically interact with coaches and athletes during several training sessions a week. There are two types of physiologists: generalists and recovery specialists.39
General Physiologists
Physiologist generalists (referred to as physiologists) are responsible for identifying and quantifying the physical and physiological characteristics that contribute to performance in particular sports, and the most effective methods of manipulating these characteristics to enhance the likelihood of success. A key function of the physiology department is to monitor training sessions to allow an accurate assessment of the level of stress placed on athletes. This involves the measurement of a range of physiological variables including cardiovascular, neuromuscular, hormonal, blood and performance variables (Australian Sports Commission 2014b). In their role as SPs, physiologists work with coaches, athletes and other scientists to monitor performance in both training and competition settings. For instance, part of athletes’ training routines involves regular ‘physiology testing’ by physiologists to record a baseline of fitness (including agility, speed, endurance, flexibility, vertical jump) and athlete anthropometric measurements (such as height, weight, arm span, skin folds) that
39 Throughout my fieldwork there were a number of male and female physiologists in their early twenties
who were employed as interns (referred to as ‘post-graduate scholars’) at the AIS, equally as many PhD students in their late-twenties and early-thirties, and approximately the same number of senior staff in their forties and fifties.
are later compared with mid-season and post-season results. Other physiologists’ roles include: developing, maintaining and implementing technology and sports science equipment for training and performance testing, monitoring and measuring; conducting applied research projects to enhance sports performance; and providing high level advice, consultation and education to athletes and coaches (Australian Sports Commission 2014b).
Recovery Centre (Physiology) Specialists
The AIS performance recovery specialists are physiologists who educate athletes and coaches about fatigue, recovery practices and physiology. Their roles include: conducting recovery sessions; developing team travel protocols; monitoring athletes’ sleep, training loads and responses to training; supplying teams and athletes with recovery equipment; developing recovery facilities through advice on design and operation; and undertaking applied fatigue and recovery research (Australian Sports Commission 2014b).
Strength and Conditioning Coaches
Strength and conditioning forms an integral part of the development of all AIS athletes and their everyday training. The strength and conditioning discipline provides services in the areas of speed, agility, endurance, strength, stability, flexibility, injury prevention, management and rehabilitation for the purposes of enhanced athletic performance during competition across all sports (Australian Sports Commission 2011). Before athletes are recruited they are subjected to movement screening tests that capture their abilities in each of the above areas so that strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvement can be recorded and programmed. Core stability, injury prevention and rehabilitation, proprioception and agility programmes are incorporated as part of an athletes’ overall strength and conditioning programme.
Strength and conditioning coaches (referred to as ‘S&C coaches’) create individualised strength training (lifting weights) and conditioning programmes, in consultation with sports medicine practitioners and sport coaches, that are tailored to meet athletes’ specific needs and designed to allow each athlete to progressively achieve their optimal performance. The S&C coaches’ role is to: develop correct exercise skills or drill techniques; improve the strength base of athletes; address athletes’ specific strengths and weaknesses; improve athletes' sports-specific movements and techniques through agility and speed sessions; and improve athletes' physical conditioning through sport-specific conditioning sessions (Australian Sports Commission 2011). Athlete development is monitored by the S&C coaches within each and every scheduled lifting session (typically three to four sessions a week) in the strength and conditioning gym throughout the period of athletes’ scholarships. To assist S&C coaches fulfil their role, athletes are required to fill in a training diary for each weight training session. This tracking of activity enables the S&C coaches to monitor each athlete's progress and adjust programmes to enhance their development.40 As a
result of this regular contact, S&C coaches are the SPs that athletes have the most contact with other than their main coaches.
Dieticians
At the start of a nutrition programme at the AIS, most athletes attend an individual screening session with their team dietician (commonly referred to as a ‘nutritionist’ by AIS staff and athletes41) to assess their eating patterns and
40 During my fieldwork the S&C coaches were a mix of male and female staff members. A few coaches
were in their late-twenties, the majority were in their thirties and a few of the more senior staff were in their forties.
41 Although nutritionist and dieticians are assumed to be the same, AIS dieticians are quick to point out
that the difference between a nutritionist and a dietician rests on the scientific rigour of their qualifications. As one dietician informed me “Dieticians are in the same boat as S&C coaches. Anyone can become a PT [personal trainer] or a nutritionist after completing an eight-week course at TAFE, but you
identify any nutrition issues. Throughout the year, athletes may attend follow-up sessions with their dieticians to discuss specific dietary concerns or questions. Issues that require individual attention include nutrient deficiencies (for example iron deficiency), weight management, failure to recover well from training sessions and specialised competition eating plans. Athletes may initiate their own appointments or may be referred by other sports science and sports medicine professionals, their coaches, or house parents from the AIS residence. Nutrition education sessions are presented to AIS teams and provide overviews of eating well for sport as well as specialised topics such as bulking up, eating for post- exercise recovery, fuelling and hydration strategies for competition and eating while travelling (Australian Sports Commission 2009a). These education sessions are presented in traditional lecture formats and creative activities such as a game-show format, role playing, food taste-testing, video clips and group discussions. Dieticians use these sessions to help athletes develop nutrition knowledge and practical skills to use on a daily basis.
Cooking classes are one of the most popular and useful activities dieticians use to teach and train athletes about nutrition. These classes teach athletes how to plan menus, organise catering for a group house, and feel comfortable in the kitchen. Recipes are taken from the AIS Sports Nutrition cookbooks, which have been written and researched by AIS dietetics staff and are openly accessible resources (Burke, Australian Institute of Sport Department of Sports Nutrition 1999). The meal ideas are designed to be quick to prepare, full of carbohydrate for refuelling, low in fat, and taste appealing. In their role as SPs, dieticians impress upon athletes the serious repercussions of their nutrition and dietary habits with
have to complete a specialist three year Bachelor degree, with a high entrance score, to get into dietetics to become a dietician or to become a S&C coach”.
respect to sporting performance while instilling the importance of balance, taste and fun associated with food in their daily lives.42
Biomechanists
Biomechanics is the study of forces and the effects of those forces on and within the human body. Whenever a force is applied to the body, biomechanics can be used to analyse and interpret its cause and effect. AIS biomechanists are involved in the observation, measurement and analysis of training and competition performance and use their expertise to support athlete development (Australian Sports Commission 2013a). Athletes consult with biomechanists in an initial screening before they are recruited, and then sporadically as coaches, S&C coaches and medical staff request or when biomechanists require research data.43
Skill Acquisition Specialists
Skill acquisition specialists use their knowledge of how the brain handles information through the learning process44 to design training programmes that
give athletes a competitive edge.
42 During my fieldwork the majority of the dietetics staff were women in their late-twenties and mid-
forties and a few men and women in their thirties.
43 During my fieldwork there were more men than women in the biomechanics department with staff
ranging from late-twenties to early-fifties.
44 For instance skill acquisition specialists monitor athletes’ learning process from conscious efforts to
This includes practical methods such as:
Designing innovative practise approaches to aid athletes in fine tuning their skill preparation; assessing how athletes combine their sensory awareness and motor skills to perform in their sport; exploring the application of technological approaches to skill learning such as interactive visual stimulation; and assisting coaches to apply the latest developments in applied learning research (Australian Sports Commission 2014c).
Athletes consult with skill acquisition specialists periodically – at a coach’s