Wylie Sports Performance

Today marks the end of an Era.

Five years ago I “proposed” the idea of sports science internship at . A chance to showcase how I could implement sports science into a private facility. 6 months on I had the quickest rise up the ladder becoming Head of Sports Science 😅.

Throughout the course of the years I had the chance to build, develop, tear down and build again the sports science practices creating a system that bias aside I couldn’t be prouder of. And along with this I had opportunities around the country to represent what we do.

From this I had the privilege of working at the , some of best athletes and even better humans I have got to be amongst, as I wrap up there too, I can’t wait to see them absolutely slay in 2026.

But before this gets too emotional, a quick shout out giving me the shot early days, being a pillar and mentor in my career and personally and more importantly becoming one of my best mates.

Beyond the sports science, this role gave me some of my closest friends and those moments are second to none, whether colleagues or athletes those connections are what made turning up each and every day easy.

So thank you to all of those who made this ride at AA incredibly enjoyable from day one, keep an eye out for what’s to come next from me 👀 and I’m excited to watch AA’s sports science from afar 💪🏼

Strength diagnostics should provide clarity, not just another set of numbers.

The Bosco Squat Jump offers more than an output measure. By mapping force–velocity profiles (utilising ), it highlights where an athlete is limited and directs training accordingly.

For coaches, the implications are straightforward:
• A steep decline in velocity with load points to a strength deficit.
• A flat power curve indicates limitations in explosive qualities.

The value lies in moving from descriptive testing to prescriptive diagnostics. Instead of collecting data for its own sake, you identify which lever to pull — maximal strength or explosive strength — and then track whether your program delivers the intended change.

Effective diagnostics turn testing into decision-making. They ensure that training interventions are evidence-based, targeted, and accountable.

Track the shifts. Trust the numbers. Build the athlete in front of you.

NORMATIVE DATA IN SEMI PRO SPORT: AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL

We shift our focus now to semi-pro AFL players for our next demographic - next up, our 18+ female players.

For reference similar to our first cohort breakdown, the visual displayed shows both the mean results in blue and the 90th percentile results in relation to the 18+ female cohort as a whole. The more full a bar is the greater the result for the cohort, with a full bar being 100%.

Our cohort of Aussie Rules female has a strong mix of various state league players and players who’ve gone on to play in the AFLW. The main strengths in testing metrics we see from this groups’ average is their Drop Jump Flight Time (0.484 s - 81%), Lateral Bound (1.72 m - 81%), Triple Hop (5.45 m - 76%) and 10 m Sprint (2.024 s - 88%). Then when we look at AFL population’s 90th percentile we also see the addition of their SJ (35.5 cm - 79%) CMJ (38.2 cm - 76%), NordBord %BM (107% BM - 78%) and VO2 Max (48.86 mL/kg/min - 81%).

NORMATIVE DATA IN SEMI PRO SPORT: AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL

We shift our focus now to semi-pro AFL players for our next demographic - first up, our 18+ male players.

For reference similar to our first cohort breakdown, the visual displayed shows both the mean results in blue and the 90th percentile results in relation to the 18+ female cohort as a whole. The more full a bar is the greater the result for the cohort, with a full bar being 100%.

The main strengths in testing metrics we see from this groups’ average is their Drop Jump Flight Time (78%), Lateral Bound (78%) and 10 m Sprint (83%). Then when we look at AFL population’s 90th percentile we also see the addition of their RSI (77%), Contact Time (81%), NordBord %BM (79%) and Hip ADDuction %BM (80%).

NORMATIVE DATA IN SEMI PRO SPORT: FOOTBALL PART II

Continuing our look at our football/soccer population we will now look at our 18+ female footballers. This category as a whole has had a number of athletes transition into the A-League Women, various European Leagues as well as national representation from the Young Matildas through to the Matildas.

For reference similar to our first cohort breakdown, the visual displayed shows both the mean results in blue and the 90th percentile results in relation to the 18+ female cohort as a whole. The more full a bar is the greater the result for the cohort, with a full bar being 100%.

The main strengths in testing metrics we see from this groups’ average is Drop Jump Flight (80%), Lateral Bound (80%) and 10 m Sprint (88%). When we look at 90th Percentile of female footballers we see further development of the above strengths as well as Drop Jump Contact Time (81%), Triple Hop (85%), Hip ADD (90%), VO2 Max (86%).

NORMATIVE DATA IN SEMI PRO SPORT: FOOTBALL

Our first cohort we are diving deeper into is 18+ male footballers.

The visual displayed shows both the mean results in blue and the 90th percentile results in relation to the 18+ male cohort as a whole. The more full a bar is the greater the result for the cohort, with a full bar being 100%.

As we look at the key strengths, the mean identified strengths in Drop Jump flight time (77%), lateral bound distance (81%), 10 m sprint time (85%). When investigating the 90th percentile of our footballers we have in addition to the previous metrics strengths in, Drop Jump contact time (85%), Nordic Fall %BM (81%), Hip ADDuction (88%) and Hip ABDuction (86%)

Next up with be our 18+ Female footballers/ soccer players

NORMATIVE DATA IN SEMI PRO SPORT - REVISITED:

It has been since 2022 that I last posted some normative data across sports for various athlete populations, so thought I’d bring about a fresh start and begin with an overview of some key tests and metrics.

———————————————————————

With the growth of access to technology providing qualitative analysis to athlete performance in the semi professional space, common questions I get asked is what do your norms like?

Or where do you get your normative data from?

We’ve been lucky enough at to have comprehensive testing results for the last 7 years across various sports, genders and age groups.

This post looks to kick the series highlighting male and female testing norms across various semi pro athletes.

This overview consists of females 18+ from all sports divided by our base program categories

1. DSI (IMTP vs CMJ Force)
2. EUR (CMJ v SJ)
3. RSI (FT/CT)
4. NordBord %BM v Limb Symmetry
5. Hip ADDuction %BM v Limb Symmetry
6. Hip ABDuction %BM v Limb Symmetry

Stay tuned for our breakdown per sport!

NORMATIVE DATA IN SEMI PRO SPORT - REVISITED:

It has been since 2022 that I last posted some normative data across sports for various athlete populations, so thought I’d bring about a fresh start and begin with an overview of some key tests and metrics.

———————————————————————

With the growth of access to technology providing qualitative analysis to athlete performance in the semi professional space, common questions I get asked is what do your norms like?

Or where do you get your normative data from?

We’ve been lucky enough at to have comprehensive testing results for the last 7 years across various sports, genders and age groups.

This post looks to kick the series highlighting male and female testing norms across various semi pro athletes.

This overview consists of males 18+ from all sports divided by our base program categories

1. DSI (IMTP vs CMJ Force)
2. EUR (CMJ v SJ)
3. RSI (FT/CT
4. NordBord %BM v Limb Symmetry
5. Hip ADDuction %BM v Limb Symmetry
6. Hip ABDuction %BM v Limb Symmetry

Stay tuned for our female athlete overview!

Testing Week Insights 14th - 19th August:

With a big A Block Testing completed, we saw some big movers in the leaders across multiple tests.

In our CMJ records we had both Matt Abela and London Ashcroft move into 2nd place in the men’s and women’s respectively leaderboards across both facilities.

Andy Wiggan’s 6,320 N IMTP is a new record across both facilities, beating his own previous record of just over 6000 Newtons.

Emma Bosco’s IMTP put her into 3rd in the facility leaderboards for peak vertical force and 2nd for relative IMTP.

Lastly, had Julian Lam sneak into top spot of the NordBord Nordic Fall relative to body mass across the facilities.

Stay tuned for future testing summaries where we not only pit mate against mate, but facilities go head to head state vs state. We’ll see which state collectively is stronger, faster as well as longer and higher jumpers!

THE SEARCH 👀

Over the past week I’ve had the opportunity to be part of search for the next lot Australian talent to send to US to try crack into the NFL.

Representing , and I have been responsible for the Combine Style Testing replicating what is performed in the NFL.

On top of this getting to witness , , coach raw talent the basics of the game. It was a treat to see the extent of their knowledge being imparted on our local talent.

Keep an eye out for my summary of the Combine Testing results once the team wrap up the camps in Adelaide and Perth.

That’s a wrap on my involvement in the Combine Testings, and as the .ceo would say to wrap up story “and that’s New York”.