Dave Richardson interviews Andy Barr, Performance Specialist, New York Knicks
Andy Barr’s dream of becoming a professional footballer was wrecked by a series of injuries. A hernia operation blighted his first year on a professional contract at Luton Town. His second year as a pro involved a 3 month goal splurge on loan to the semi-pro outfit Hitchin Town before the then Luton Town manager Lennie Lawrence called him back. Unfortunately, his first training session back with The Hatters saw him rupture his MCL (medial collateral ligament). [Bizarrely, the day after I interviewed Andy, Hitchin Town lost 1-0 to Luton Town in, what was described as a ‘low key friendly at Top Field with around 70 people watching’]. At the time of writing, Luton Town sit just outside the playoff places in the Blue Square BET Premier as they try to regain their football league status. Andy signed for Luton Town just after the ‘sometimes’ glorious David Pleat years as they flitted between the second and third tiers of the football league. Andy has fond memories of his time as a Hatter playing in a very successful youth team alongside the likes of Matthew Upson (England and Stoke City) and Gary Doherty (Republic of Ireland and Charlton FC). The MCL injury would ultimately curtail his professional aspirations. A nine month stint on the sidelines undergoing rehab and constant visits to the physio’s room offered the young Barr some time for contemplation. The likelihood of a professional career for any young player is miniscule at best, and even less likely when a player is tagged as injury prone. As he reflects on this challenging period, he questions the diagnosis of his injury and the subsequent length of his rehabilitation. His gripe is not with the personnel involved but the time afforded to young players and the complexity of their personal circumstances at such a challenging time. His time at Luton was before the inception of the Academy system and much has changed to help inform young players about alternative exit strategies. Andy was fortunate to get the support of ‘good senior pros’, in particular, Steve Davies (now assistant first team at Bolton Wanderers) and Paul Showler. Showler was studying physiotherapy part-time at the University of Salford. Indeed, it was Andy’s discussions about science, the body and how it works, with Showler that prompted his subsequent enrolment on the same course. The structure of the course enabled Andy to continue to play football at a semi-professional level as he experienced stints with Altrincham and a number of excursions into the Welsh league. His fellow physiotherapy student and best mate, Neil Davies, convinced him to sign for Vauxhall Motors. This excursion through the leagues of northern England and Wales were not incident free. Following further damage to the left knee at Altrincham and a broken arm on his first appearance for Vauxhalls it would seem that fate was trying to tell him something. Some work experience with Bolton Wanderers soon followed and a professional career in football was re-invigorated.
Andy, now the performance specialist at the Knicks, has been reported as stating that sports science support in the NBA has been slow to evolve. However, when we unpick his exposure to the role of sports science in English Football, it becomes clear, to me anyway, that perhaps his experience at Bolton was peculiar to the club at the time and not representative of sports science support per se across the country. Andy was embraced by an organisation that included the forward thinking sports science advocate Sam Allardyce and the performance management vision of Mike Forde. At this time Bolton was acclaimed as the most innovative club of its generation with a plethora of sport science and medicine support led by Mark Taylor and a fantastic youth academy led by Chris Sulley. They even had a resident sports psychologist (involved with the first team). Someone called Nesti! So with all due respect, in comparison to Bolton Wanderers, at this time, anywhere else in the world would appear to be slow to evolve, “I was so fortunate that my first job was with a team that was so forward thinking in terms of sports science and medicine and we had a manager that was so inspirational and receptive of sports science… Sam (Allardyce) was a big believer in sports science and the optimisation of performance… get them (the players) fitter, stronger and keep them healthy… we didn’t have the finance to buy in technically gifted players or if we did get a technically gifted player they were usually coming towards the end of their career, or he’d have some sort of issue and we tried to rejuvenate his career. So we’d try to turn their careers around. We had the oldest squad in the league at one stage, but the best injury record. Our philosophy was being pro-active not re-active so it was just ingrained into me.”
It is clear that Andy learnt a great deal from this experience. It appears that it was not just a philosophy of practice that he was exposed to but also great management and communication practices, “Sam was really good at getting people to communicate and Fordy, obviously, was a huge facilitator in that so we constantly had meetings that looked at the operational stuff and the planning for the future; our philosophy, goal setting and strategic meetings.” In simple terms, yes more communication and more planning. But Bolton was more than this, it was an open forum for discussion and everyone was able to input freely without fear. Everything was planned, with flexibility, but the plan included everyone, “…we always had a plan, we had a goal, we had a framework to follow and that’s where our input came in. We’d advise when they (the players) were going to train, and how hard, so we maintained a certain level of fitness but also kept the players a lot fresher. We were just smart with what we did.” There was a process in place and a structure to follow that everyone bought in to. His fondness for his initiation is evident as he refers to the family atmosphere that permeated Bolton at the time, “…we had disagreements and arguments but you know we were very close… It was like a team behind a team. We all got on really well and we were all on this journey together, so we had a good relationship and Sam was really the instigator in that alongside Fordy.” It would appear that Mike Forde’s role was significant in building a support system for the staff as well as the players. The staff were continually encouraged to self-develop and continually seek out the ‘best in the industry’, go and talk to them and/or invite them in and see what you can learn.
Andy moved away from Bolton as Sam departed and the sports science Bolton legacy was dismantled. Andy had a brief spell heading up the sports science unit at Southampton before being enticed back to Bolton. Both experiences taught Andy that not everyone appreciates the role and function of sport science. His time at Southampton saw a brief cross-over with Sir Clive Woodward. However, the credibility of his role and the importance of the sport science and medicine team was only secured after he produced figures depicting a 40% reduction in non-traumatic injuries during his first season. Such data changed the perceptions of the staff and enabled the integration of the previously distinct units (i.e., coaches, sports science and medicine). After a brief spell with what turned out to be a culturally different Bolton Wanderers he found that his expertise in injury prevention was sought after by Manchester City. It is this expertise in the development of injury prevention strategies as corrective exercise, movement assessment, movement efficiency and mechanics that enabled him to navigate his way across the Atlantic for a change of country and a change of sport. His love of America and American culture, as well as his American wife, explain this particular departure. The Knicks’ approach to sports science is reminiscent of his early days at Bolton. The Knicks’ staff roster hosts an array of specialists including a Director of Player Care, an orthopaedist, a Director of training and conditioning, a Head and assistant trainer, a strength coach and Andy. His primary role is as a performance specialist who is charged specifically with injury prevention. Andy doesn’t discriminate between performance and prevention, “…it’s a fine line. Performance and injury prevention, it’s the same thing really. If you push somebody too hard trying to get them to perform they’re going to get injured but if you protect them too much then they are going to lose their conditioning. So it’s all about balance and making sure that you can maintain an athlete’s health and well being to keep them in a state of readiness to perform optimally.” This philosophy, alongside his experience and skill set were exactly what the Knicks were looking for. To my mind, this is a fairly unique position and one that suggests a readiness to embrace such a skill set within a high performance setting. Indeed, you could argue that Andy has been fortunate in that he has landed in another place that appreciates his contribution to athlete performance. Andy believes that injury prevention demands an integrative approach in which everyone is accountable (i.e., including the coaching staff, the medical staff and the sports scientists). His current role has evolved to include the facilitation of strategies that better monitor and maintain the readiness of the players. The coaches are key to this approach. However, he admits that his early integration and acceptance into an environment typically governed by the coach was eased once again by the tangible production of injury reduction figures. Increasing the players’ training and game completion rates up to 94% last season has confirmed the credibility and subsequent influential voice with regards to training techniques and training load that the Knicks Sports Science team has. It would appear that Andy is in a place that embraces, includes and appreciates his contribution toward player (and team) performance, “…we have a great relationship with the coaches. One of the things that I find a little bit different here is that the coaches are not afraid to let you evolve and afford us a lot more influence in what we do. They’re not afraid to give you appreciation and let you know that you are doing a good job.” For me, an explicit appreciation of the role and influence that such practitioners can have in the protection and long term optimisation of an athlete’s performance should not be seen as a peripheral occupation. Furthermore, the use of real time player performance monitoring system allows for immediate intervention into training scenarios where required. The subsequent creation of a player development committee that includes the formal gathering of the coaches, medical and sports science staff also enables a bespoke player performance programme to be developed and operationalised. There is a plan here too. I think you get the picture now. We have an ‘Allardyce’ type figure in the Knicks’ head coach, and a ‘Forde’ type figure in the Director of Player Care. However, as our discussion continues, I note that there is one person missing; a ‘Nesti’ type character. The Director of player care is a physician who oversees the medical needs of the Knicks. So where’s the psychologist? There isn’t one. In essence the culture is similar to certain sports in England. The psychologist is seen as the ‘fixer’ rather than the ‘enhancer’. Andy agrees that it was the one thing that was missing when he first arrived, “…the higher you go in the sport it becomes more about the psychological aspect and less about the talent aspect.” The game and travel demands of the NBA have dictated that Andy is concerned with the management of fatigue, the issues of wellness and the management of stress, “If you can manage your stress levels then you are going to put yourself in a much better position to be able to recover. So it’s a huge thing for me to have somebody with this skill set in and around the players.” The solution appears to be to instigate a covert operation. The tangible issue that the players can relate to is sleep. The frequent travel across time zones is a real performance challenge. Indeed, teams that travel from West to East have been reported to have a higher win ratio than teams that travel from East to West. Now whether this is a consequence of travel fatigue, sleep efficiency, sleep disruption or just poor performance is difficult to ascertain but nevertheless it is a big challenge for the Knicks. In essence, the Knicks are investing in a psychologist with an initial focus on strategies for sleep improvement and recovery for next season. It’s a small step but one that Andy hopes may perhaps pave the way for more of a psychologically based performance enhancing or lifestyle practitioner that integrates with the coaching staff and additionally provides support for the staff as well as the players. Something similar to Bolton perhaps? I’m left to wonder whether my colleague, Dr Nesti has ever considered a visit to the Big Apple!
Dave Richardson PhD is a specialist in youth development, organisational culture and community and the assistant director of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University.
The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Performance.
THIS MONTH’S ARTICLES:
LEADERS IN PERFORMANCE DAY TWO: MIND, BODY AND CARE…
PROZONE: EFFICIENT RECRUITMENT – A JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW ANALYSIS
MARK NESTI: SPORT IS THE MIRROR OF SOCIETY…
