Paul Gamble PhD, the founder of Informed Practitioner in Sport, has worked in elite sport over a period spanning three decades and three continents
Paul began his professional career in 2001 as an applied sports scientist and has since become internationally recognised in multiple areas of specialism in the realms of physical and athletic preparation, as well as talent development and sports injury rehabilitation.
The knowledge and experience in elite sports accrued over this period encompasses team sports (Paul began his career in professional rugby union with English Premiership side London Irish), racquet sports (Paul served as National Strength and Conditioning Lead for Scottish Squash for six years) and a diverse array of individual sports with athletes of all ages competing at national and international-level.
Paul has gained insights into world-leading best practice, having enjoyed privileged access to observe at close quarters how things operate within various sports under different systems across the world. In the process, Paul has acquired extensive knowledge in leadership and managing high performing teams, as well as real-world experience, having latterly served in Coaching Director and Performance Director roles. Paul explored these themes at length in the recent titles Prepared: Unlocking Human Performance with Lessons from Elite Sport and Informed: the Art of the Science of Preparing Athletes. This learning and applied experience has proven invaluable in his consultancy work with senior leaders within national sports organisations and professional sports teams. In addition to consulting with organisations, Paul provides executive coaching to senior leaders and mentorship to individuals.
Paul completed his PhD in 2005, and the period since has published four textbooks, the most recent Comprehensive Strength and Conditioning (Revised Edition) being released in July 2019 (the spanish language version was released in 2021). Paul has remained involved in the academic realm and continues to contribute to applied research. Paul blends his extensive knowledge of the research literature and understanding of real world application in creating coach and practitioner continuing education content for different partners, including national sport organisations and national coaching associations. Paul also delivers in-house workshops to performance staff and sports injury clinics that similarly blend theory and practical elements.
Paul has a special interest in sports injury and performance health. Paul has worked and written extensively on strategies and countermeasures to mitigate injury risk, performance injury rehabilitation and return to performance following injury. In previous roles, Paul has been responsible for overseeing sports medicine and physiotherapy provision, as well as coordinating other athlete support providers. Paul has provided troubleshooting for complex sports injury cases involving professional and national team athletes and presently consults with sports injury clinics. In 2021 we launched the first of two e-learning modules for practitioners working with sports injuries on the topics of ACL injury rehabilitation/return to performance and resolving running-related injuries.
Paul continually seeks to extend his practical expertise in all facets of performance and injury in his quest for new and different solutions to performance problems. Paul has an enduring fascination with human movement in all its expressions. His exploration of mechanics of running, jumping and throwing led him to become a track and field athletics coach, becoming accredited at the highest level both as a coach and coach developer. He has consulted with elite performers in a host of different sports and athletic disciplines as well as the performing arts. Ultimately, Paul considers himself a coach first and foremost and he continues to work independently as a performance coach and performance rehabilitation practitioner.