ASCA Podcast #114 - Shane Lehane

Shane Lehane currently works as Athletic Performance Coach for the Sydney Swans Football Club in the AFL. Prior to this Shane worked in professional Rugby Union for 12 years in both Europe and Australia with Leicester Tigers, Melbourne Rebels, and the Wallabies. Shane graduated from Loughbough University in Sport & Exercise Science and is currently a PhD candidate at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Shane’s studies are focused on Decision Making and the application of Systems Thinking for Strength & Conditioning Practitioners in the Team sport setting. Shane is also an accredited Elite Level 3 Coach with the ASCA. QUOTES “I definitely caused more problems than I solved by taking the performance model from Leicester straight to the Rebels” “Rather than being solely a S&C coach tasked with manipulating physical variables, I see our role as being an assistant coach with job of managing the physical dimension within context of team environment” “What differentiates practitioners is the understanding of the context of the environment they are working in” “It is ok to embrace something that is less objectifiable and be comfortable in the fact that this physical quality will transfer across to the sport” “Coordinative exercises and drills are a bridge between traditional strength training and a technical aspect of the sport” SHOWNOTES 1) Shane’s non-traditional start to a S&C career in the football codes 2) The role of the S&C coach in modern team sport setting and “well-intentioned reductionism” 3) Optimizing versus maximizing physical qualities in team sport athletes and how that fits with tactical and technical aspects of the game 4) The factors that positively and negatively impact team sport performance from a S&C perspective and the point of diminishing returns on physical traits 5) The balance between subjective and objective information with coaching vision and feedback for different players 6) Reflective practice, its role in other health sciences and importance for S&C coaches 7) Coordinative exercises and drills, dynamic correspondence, transfer and Frans Bosch 8) The different characteristics between rugby union vs AFL athletes and systems thinking PEOPLE MENTIONED Bryce Kavanagh John Pyror Lachlan James Fergus Connolly Russell Ackoff Dan Howells