Life On The Job - Physical Performance Assistant

John Leyden, Head of Strength North Melbourne Football Club (Nov 2021 - ), previous roles with Geelong Cats (10 years)

"Everyone hopes to find a sustainable job in a field they love, but few people manage it. Sport-crazy since he was a child, John Leyden is one of the lucky few who turned his interests into a career. Caitlin Ganter writes:

As a child, we all have dreams of what we will be when we grow up. Be it a doctor, a fireman or a veterinarian, very few of us realise our childhood dream job. However, John Leyden has managed to do what most strive for: he turned his childhood passion into a profession.

Now working for Geelong Football Club’s Fitness Department in sport science, John considers himself a lucky man. “I’ve always had an interest in sports. Growing up as a child and throughout my high school years sport was a subject that was always a high priority,” said John. “It was an obvious choice to find a degree and career in this field if I could manage it.” Geelong, or the Cats as they are affectionately referred to, is a professional club playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club has been the Victorian Football League (VFL) /AFL premiers nine times and has won nine McClelland Trophies, a record it shares with Essendon.

“My role at the club is in the fitness department for the AFL. I predominantly work with sport science and global positioning system (GPS) data analysis – this involves a lot of different activities such as monitoring training loads, developing training reports, and developing rehabilitation reports from the GPS data for each training session.

“I am also involved in strength and conditioning with the Geelong VFL club which, involves developing and implementing the conditioning and rehabilitation side of the program.

“I’m really fortunate to have my current role at Geelong. Being so young in the high performance industry, this role allows me to learn and continually develop myself in the sport science realms. I also get to work with extremely experienced and knowledgeable individuals who are experts not just in Australia, but internationally.”

It was in his final year of studying a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at Deakin University that John had the opportunity to undertake a placement with the Cats. “We were required to undertake a placement in the sporting industry as part of the degree, and Geelong Football Club had advertised a placement opportunity for the whole season.

“It was more hours than I was required to do for the course, but I recognised it was a great opportunity. I was lucky to be accepted, gained great experience and developed some good relationships at the club whilst undertaking the placement.”

To build on his undergraduate degree, John enrolled in a Masters of Clinical Exercise Physiology at ACU.

“I decided to study my masters to continue the interest in rehabilitation that I developed during my undergraduate degree. Also, one of my lecturers recommended I continue my study, especially if I was interested in working in rehabilitation. I chose the Masters of Clinical Exercise Physiology at ACU because it was highly recommended.”

The industry is highly competitive, and John says he needs to work hard to keep on top of things. Nevertheless, he loves his job.

“It can be a challenge to keep up with the ever-changing sport science realms – it is a very competitive industry so you always have to be looking for what is ahead and what may be of benefit to your organisation to keep that competitive edge.

“But the rewards are worth it. I love seeing how athletes develop – even in my short career I have been able to work with young players and watch them mature. It’s great to see how their abilities develop to manage the training demands of AFL football. In the end, seeing the team succeed is always a big reward.

“I wish to continue developing my skills in this industry. I have been lucky to start at a club that has such a great reputation and plan to take full advantage of this opportunity to develop my knowledge.

“Ever since I was a child, the sporting industry is something I have always had a passion for and I aim to continue in this environment. Whether it is sport science, rehabilitation, or strength and conditioning, I believe having a background in all facets holds you in good stead for a healthy career.” (Source: ACU)

November 2021 John was contracted as Head of Strength, North Melbourne Football Club.

Links:

Geelong Cats	Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA)

What is Clinical Exercise Physiology?

Exercise physiology is the scientific study of how physical activity affects the body. There are two types of exercise physiology: sport and clinical.

Sport exercise physiology applies exercise knowledge to develop fitness conditioning routines for athletes, while clinical exercise physiology uses exercise as a form of treatment and prevention of chronic disease, as well as for therapeutic purposes.

Professional clinical exercise physiologists generally work in hospitals, sports medicine clinics, and physical therapy centers. They meet with patients and customize exercise regimes that will be the most beneficial to their health issues. For instance, someone with heart disease may be prescribed a cardiovascular routine, such as jogging or walking, to increase heart strength.

Diabetes centers may use clinical exercise physiology to help patients in managing the disease. Diabetics can suffer from low insulin, hormones that convert sugar from food into energy, which can result in high levels of glucose in the blood. Exercise therapy can be used to keep blood glucose levels down naturally because exercise burns glucose. Physical activity is also prescribed to diabetics under physiologist supervision to prevent diabetes from worsening in overweight individuals.
(Source: wiseGEEK)

Push-Ups!

Primary Middle Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy

1. You are to test each person in the class on the number of push-ups they can do initially. There will be a range but the purpose of this exercise is to see the difference after a person has practiced.

2. Look at the following Australian Army video to see how push-ups are to be done:

YouTube: https://youtu.be/D8vUIr-9Zqs

3. Test each person and record their number of push-ups.

4. Get each student to practise their push-ups during the week. Record again their number of push-ups. What is the average number? Has the number decreased or increased over the week?

5. Try this again in a month's time. Who has improved the most? What was their motivation?

6. Graph the results and present to the class.