107: Colin Lewin on the evolution of the support team in football

This week's guest is Colin Lewin 

Colin was Arsenal Football Club’s physiotherapist from 2005 to 2018 - making that 22 years of front line medical support in elite football. Acting both as a physio and later as Head of Medical Services, Colin oversaw the creation of Arsenal’s outstanding purpose-built medical facilities in 2012 the £17 million player performance centre and implementing the Research & Development arm to the medical team.

Colin now runs the Lewin Clinic in Essex with and consults with a number of football, NBA, NHL, NFL, Major League Baseball teams.

Colin has such depth of experience and has seen a radical re-development of support teams in football, under the guidance of one of the pioneers in the game Arsene Wenger. This came out in our conversation with real perspective that I think is necessary not only as club’s grow and get caught in a performance science and medicine arms race but also balancing the need to actually do impactful work (not just do what a player or coach fancies doing). This is typified by the growth of independent player support teams. 

I’ve always enjoyed conversations with Colin, he has a relaxed down-to-earth approach, that is so easy to imagine gelling with an elite team. His grounded self-awareness comes through this conversation, being prepared to just say, “I don’t know” but equally with a strength of opinion where he sees support teams misfiring. With that you’ll hear his wealth of wisdom and passion to make the game of football better.

Follow Colin on Twitter and check out his website when you need a brilliant sports physio;

https://twitter.com/LewinPhysio

https://www.lewinclinic.co.uk/

Hi, I'm Steve Ingham Sports and Performance Scientist co-founder at Supporting Champions. I have the privilege of supporting over 1000 athletes of which over 200 have gone on to win World or Olympic medals. For the last 25 years I've been fascinated by, researched and applied innovative ideas to help people succeed  and now I want to share those performance strategies with you. 

I help aspiring and professional Performance Science and Support Staff improve their skills, experience and mindset for working with sports performers through a range of online courses and an exclusive community hub https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/onlinecourse

If you're working in sports performance or business and want to get support to develop your team and systems - take a look at what I offer here - https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/speaking/

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