July 7, 2021
Before starting PRIDE Human Performance in Townsville, North Queensland, Australia, Jillian Joyce and Simon Bowen had both been involved in Sport and Health and wellbeing at various levels within the Military and general populations for decades and are passionate about the delivery of high quality services and opportunities. While with the Australian Army’s 3rd Brigade, Simon and Jillian worked closely with Sparta Science to implement the Movement Health Platform with the goal of reducing MSK injuries and improving overall readiness while creating a culture of fitness. While both still work closely with the 3rd Brigade, the two sought out to bring advanced human performance methodologies to the greater Townsville community and decided to implement Sparta’s solution as an integral piece of their process. Read below to learn more about Jillian and Simon’s decision to bring Sparta Science to a broader population, with plans to scale.
CAN YOU GIVE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF YOUR COMPANY/ORGANIZATION AND YOUR ROLE/RESPONSIBILITIES?
PRIDE Human Performance is a Human Performance Centre located in Townsville, North Queensland, Australia. It has a unique and dedicated approach to assisting clients of all ages, backgrounds and levels work towards being the best version of them that they can be. Underpinning the PRIDE philosophy is an intrinsic understanding that better humans make better performers, and this performance cannot be achieved singularly in the physical domain and must embrace mental skills, cultural aspects and the environment in which they operate.
PRIDE Human Performance has clients from 8 through to 92 currently and everywhere in between ranging from children requiring support to be focussed and active and prevent degenerative conditions, youth and teenage athletes looking for a competitive edge, adults wanting support with their health and wellbeing, veterans being supported physically and mentally through to older clients seeking assistance to remain independent longer. No matter the client or their goal, PRIDE supports clients to understand themselves physically and mentally and decide on and articulate their goals. We then provide the environment and services to take that client from their current place through a series of intermediate steps towards these goals.
A PRIDE Human Performance client is supported through the provision of specialized services by a committed and dedicated team of allied health, sports and fitness professionals who work collaboratively for the benefit of the client.
WHAT WERE THE EXISTING CHALLENGES/PROBLEMS THAT NECESSITATED A CHANGE?
Seeing the often complex hoops athletes and general population had to go through in regional Queensland to work towards optimal performance, we pooled the knowledge from our experiences to design a system, environment and opportunity for all to achieve more, more simply.
Individuals are swamped with requirements at various levels and that came with training and performance requirements that were often overwhelming and competing. With no single support structure able to help them, regional individuals were getting injured, slipping through the cracks or under performing. PRIDE is a way of simplifying that and providing them the industry leading services such as Sparta’s Movement Health Platform, to help them perform beyond what they may have thought possible.
WHAT TRENDS IN YOUR INDUSTRY DROVE THE NEED TO USE THE SPARTA MOVEMENT HEALTH PLATFORM?
Our service system is centered around providing more than just training sessions or allied health consults, we aim to provide a care continuum that embraces the Know, Believe, Grow, Achieve Performance Spiral©. Sparta Science’s platform is unique in the way it allows clients to fully understand the strengths and weaknesses physically and provide progress data.
Too often in working with the different demographics within our centre, their progress tracking is focussed on one dimensional metrics such as body weight, 1RM, speed etc. Sparta Science’s methodology allows us to look at the physical aspects of a client more holistically, and assess progress across a well rounded data set. Alongside this it allows us to plan and program for our clients using more informative and useful data that – whether it be on field, at work or out of the hospital – gives our clients more productive performance minutes and less missed opportunity.
WHAT MADE SPARTA SCIENCE’S SOLUTION STAND OUT OVER OTHERS THAT YOU RESEARCHED?
The main thing about Sparta Science’s platform is the hardware is the least important part of the solution. The decades of constant R&D and the software and data that backs up the hardware is really what the focus is. Unlike other products in the market that at first glance look similar, the data set is actually what differentiates Sparta Science’s solution from others. With the ability to get true, visual representations of performance that are easily translatable into actions, via the planning tool, means that the Movement Health Platform can be used broadly in a variety of ways.
We use the phrase ‘Data Driven, Human Led’ here at PRIDE. Sparta’s technology does not replace our strength and conditioning coaches, exercise physiologists and physios – it informs and compliments them so they can do their job even better. However the beauty of the system is that the interface is simple enough that any client can also take personal control over their assessment and performance and the planning tool can be specific enough to provide effective mass intervention for larger populations such as sporting clubs or workplaces.
HOW DID YOU IMPLEMENT/INTRODUCE OUR SOLUTION?
We had experienced Sparta Science during our Employment within the Australian Army and saw the potential of the system immediately. Sparta Science was part of the PRIDE ethos from the opening of the doors on the first day. Clients are introduced to Sparta’s Movement Health Platform generally even before they officially sign up, and it becomes a regular part of their performance landscape.
HOW WAS IT WORKING WITH SPARTA’S SUCCESS TEAM DURING IMPLEMENTATION?
The success team has been invaluable not just in implementation, but throughout the last 18 months of using Sparta Science’s technology. For us, knowing that support is just a call or email away is invaluable. Although we pride ourselves on having a high level of knowledge of Sparta Science’s system, the ability to reach out and clarify something, seek advice or get suggestions has been great. Complementary to that, we have found the receptive nature of the team to ideas and potential uses in our environment to be amazing. The Sparta Success team really has made the use of the system exponentially better.
HOW HAS OUR SOLUTION HELPED SINCE IMPLEMENTATION?
More than anything the system provides a level of confidence for staff and clients alike. To have clear data informing our programs means that we know the direction each client is heading and allows us to more rapidly adjust to ensure that is the direction they want and need. For our staff it is like having a highly qualified mentor to provide guidance – the programming tool can be used independently but also provides a ‘colleague’ to suggest good exercises and suitable weights etc.
From a different perspective the system has allowed us to provide a broader diagnostic and planning service to larger groups that we simply would not be able to do if we needed to rely on traditional functional screening. For instance our partnership with the local Basketball association where we work with 160 representative players from 10 – 17 yrs annually – to assess and program these kids every month via traditional means would overwhelm staff and be cost preventative for us and the association, but through the use of Sparta’s Movement Health Platform we are able to provide individualized data and tailored solutions to every individual, every month.
WHAT VALUE HAS THE SPARTA MOVEMENT HEALTH PLATFORM DELIVERED TO PRIDE?
Sparta Science allows us to provide a quality intervention at lower cost for clients who are being introduced into the strength and conditioning world. While probably hard to comprehend for many in the sport, strength and allied health world, the value of quality strength, conditioning and performance training is not understood by a high percentage in our region. For these people, the thought of financially investing in the cost of a strength and conditioning coach and the associated programs is not a value proposition in their eyes – Sparta Science allows us to provide an entry level for them that is effective and starts to show the value of the investment. To this end, where we utilize the Movement Health Platform in populations that have little experience and/or knowledge of physical preparation and injury prevention, we see a flow into more comprehensive programs within the centre over time. However even without this, the value for us is having an intervention that goes to our fundamental why – ‘Helping Townsville and region people perform better’.
As Sparta Science continues to embrace general population demographics more we see the system expanding to better embrace the detrained/untrained population who have fundamental movement flaws. There is so much value as a mass intervention tool and the evolving platform and interface will allow greater buy-in and uptake by populations not familiar or confident with strength training and the movements involved.
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