Author(s): NEUPERT, E., WAGSTAFF, C., MIDDLETON, T., WOLFBERG, A., Institution: UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH, Country: UNITED KINGDOM, Abstract-ID: 1937

INTRODUCTION:
The collection of athlete monitoring data is ubiquitous in elite sport, but the extent to which the data is successfully translated into actionable insights for performance enhancement remains unpredictable. To explain how insights arise and why their implementation success is affected, this study examined how sports science and medicine practitioners learned and adapted their monitoring practice.
METHODS:
Practitioners were asked to discuss their most significant ‘moment of insight’ relating to athlete monitoring in one-to-one interviews which were reflexively thematically analysed. Follow-up feedback sessions examined facilitators and barriers to the successful realisation of practitioner insights
RESULTS:
Forty practitioners (25 male, 15 female; mean age 40.7 ± 8.4 years) from the Australian (n = 12), UK (n = 14), and Canadian (n = 14) high performance systems participated. They recalled moments of insight that had occurred 10.0 ± 6.8 years earlier and 3.4 ± 4.4 years into their role. On average, there was a 1.9 ± 2.2 year delay before an insight was implemented, with the insight reaching its endpoint 5.6 ± 5.6 years after it began. Themes were organised temporally by three phases: before, during, and after the insight. Each phase was defined by cognitive and affective themes, expressed both individually and socially. This qualitative study highlights for the first time that while technical skills provided a key foundation for practitioner insights, the success of implementing the insights were shaped primarily by trust, communication, and team culture. Poor psychological safety, rigid hierarchies, cultural dogmas, and operational constraints often disrupted implementation, but mentorship and a strong professional identity helped mitigate these barriers to various degrees. Monitoring tended to be consistently effective when collectively owned by the team, rather than being the responsibility of one individual.
CONCLUSION:
‘Sandboxes’ that allow practitioners to safely test new ideas, together with strong mentorship programmes and senior management who foster open collaboration and challenge entrenched cultural hierarchies, may accelerate the implementation of practitioner insights and increase their likelihood of successful adoption.