Developing Athletic Performance in Culturally Challenging Environments: Chris Rush, Blackburn Rovers
The recent Catapult performance workshop at Elland Road featured a presentation on the development of athletic performance in culturally challenging environments by Chris Rush, Head of Athletic Performance at Blackburn Rovers.
Focusing on the steps his department have taken to improve training practices at Blackburn in recent seasons, Chris provided a fascinating insight into the ways clubs can transform their internal culture with regard to attitudes towards sports science and conditioning.
Some of the key topics in Chris’ presentation included:
- Introduction (00:00)
- Combating ‘get in, get out’ training culture and risk-averse mentalities (02:55)
- Setting objectives and minimum standards for individuals and the team as a whole (05:18)
- Putting athletic improvement and hard work at the heart of all communication to encourage better lifestyles (11:55)
- Creating buy-in among athletes (15:17)
- The lessons Blackburn Rovers have learned during this process (20:33)
Hosted regularly to cater for different sports and locations, Catapult’s workshops are an informal opportunity for knowledge-sharing and networking among sports science practitioners.