Kieran Howle

Currently, I am employed as Director of Sports Science (APAC) for Catapult Sports. I manage a team of Sports Science consultants who work with customers throughout Australasia, with the main goal of improving high performance systems to better identify injury risk and increase performance. I also manage key relationships for Catapult across league wide deals, this has been unique and given me the opportunity to set up monitoring practices within various leagues and manage centralised databases for the AFL, Cricket Australia and

the NRL.

• Led cross-functional teams to drive strategic initiatives and meet organisational goals. Including research partners and product development.
• Developed and implemented innovative processes to enhance operational efficiency across departments.
• Analysed market trends to inform strategic planning which is also based on trends and innovations within sports analysis. This drives decision making for our function operationally and also helps drives product development.
• Mentored junior staff, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and professional growth.

I was contacted with WSWFC for the 2013/14 & 2014/15 seasons as the assistant strength and conditioning coach of the Hyundai A-League team and lead for National Youth League side. During my employment at WSWFC the club has enjoyed many successes including a premiership, two A-League grand final appearances and most recently winning the Asian Champions League in 2014.

My duties consisted of:

• Planning and carrying out 1st and youth team training sessions.
• Periodisation of weekly and monthly training programs to improve fitness of athletes and minimise the risk of injury.
• Provide nutrient and eating plans to athletes as required, while monitoring individual progress.
• Development and upkeep of an athlete training load monitoring system and associated athlete management database containing all player anthropometric, perceptual, physiological, performance and injury data.
• Assessing individual players ‘readiness to train/compete’ and thus, contributing to the prevention of non-contact injuries and monitor athlete preparation and performance.
• Collection of relevant training load monitoring data (GPS, HR, RPE, Wellness, hydration), injury (descriptors) and recovery data.
• Provide daily and weekly team and individual reports to all coaching staff.
• Investigating trends in recovery and implementing new procedures to Match day +2 monitoring.
• Periodic sleep monitoring on specific players.
• Provide sports science services to assist coaching staff as required.

I commenced with this NRL Club as a volunteer/intern assistant to the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach during the course of my undergraduate studies and was invited to continue thereafter as a Sports Scientist. Further, I conducted my honours study with Panthers first grade side. I have had exposure and experience in a number of facets relating to the athlete’s preparation during that time. My experience includes: collecting & analysing player GPS data; structuring and supervising exercise programs; supervising athlete training programs and techniques; experience in aspects of sports nutrition and timing; managing player fatigue and recovery; supervising player injury rehabilitation; assessing skin fold and body composition.