Interview with Lewis Bowman

Team Hallam S&C Blog Interview

What sports do you currently work with?

Currently I am lead S&C coach to Men's and Women's Rugby union, Men's and Women's Hockey, Women's Football, Triathlon and Boxing. Within these teams I also work with scholar athletes on the high performance programme. Outside of university sport, I'm employed by Science in Tennis; working with junior academy players at Hallamshire Tennis Club.

What is your philosophy for S&C training?

I am a firm believer in developing athletes who are as strong uni-laterally as they are bi-laterally. My coaching and sporting experiences led me to understand the importance of having strength equality throughout the body, as asymmetries can be a precursor of injuries. Tying into this is body control, by this I mean for my athlete to have balance and stability in all planes of movement relevant to their sporting situations. A final philosophy is athlete-centred. Coaching should be centred on the athlete's needs and goals, not the other way round. If they are happy and understand why they have a certain programme or exercise it creates a training environment for athletes and coaches to thrive in.

Who are some of the main practitioners you recommend reading?

A few books I currently have out to read are; Essentials of Strength & Conditioning, Advances in Functional Training, High Performance Training for Sports and Physiology of Sport and Exercise. These books are some staples I would recommend any up and coming coach to read.

I'm also a big fan of reading sports therapy and injury rehabilitation literature. At the minute I'm re-reading Supple Leopard from Kelly Starrett. I tend to find my athlete's struggle with shoulder injuries; Athlete's Shoulder by James Andrews provides an in depth look at the different issues sport provides for the shoulder joint and surrounding musculature.

Some practitioners I would recommend checking out are Stuart McMillan from Altis, Jonas Dodoo at Speedworks and Mark Kovacs who is arguably one of the lead coaches in tennis. These three are a good starting point to get a wealth of knowledge surrounding a multitude of areas.

What are your main areas of interest in S&C?

Working with a wide range of athlete abilities, my interest in body control and power development has grown significantly. I've seen athletes who perform exceptionally on the field but can't perform basic movements. This contrast between an elite sport level and relatively novice level of body control has meant I have delved into deeper research surrounding the reasons for this instability. Power development has always been an area of S&C that I have loved. Every athlete reacts differently to a stimulus, especially when introducing landing mechanics and plyometric exercises. There is a clear difference between athletes who are strong and athletes who utilise the stretch shortening cycle when performing plyometric exercises. From this discovering whether to train to an athlete's strength or weakness has influenced my programming.

What is your sporting background?

I grew up playing every sport I could as a kid anything that involved competition I would be first there. Football and athletics were my main sports until I was drawn to rugby union in year 7 and played it ever since, although I have switched between codes playing to a decent level in both. Right now I'm playing union although who knows what will happen, potentially a return to the track could be on the cards.

What is your academic background and how did you get into S&C?

In 2013 I started an undergraduate degree in Sport Development with Coaching at Sheffield Hallam University. As an athlete I'd always be interested in my own S&C training and during my undergrad I managed to get onto S&C the internship programme at the university; allowing my passion for S&C to flourish. The time on the internship allowed for numerous volunteering opportunities with elite and amateur S&C support. Following the completion of my degree in 2016 I started part time on the Applied Sport and Exercise Science MSc which works well alongside my current position as a graduate intern S&C coach at the university.

What advice would you give up and coming practitioners who would like to be in your position?

I've only just started my journey as an S&C coach however the one piece of advice I give to anyone is, take as many opportunities you can. You never know how covering one session or taking a warm up for a team may affect your career path, certainly for myself I know I would not be in the position I am now if I didn’t grasp anything that came my way. On the flip side you have to be able to create your own opportunities and get after what you want. Time waits for no one and there is no better time to access opportunities than when you are at university or in education.

What is your favourite aspect of working in Team Hallam?

Creating and working in an environment that my athletes can thrive and progress in is easily the highlight of this job. Watching your athlete progress not only in terms of personal bests but as people too is what I want to do for the rest of my life. It has also been a great environment for my own development as not only have I implemented my own programming, I have had to be hands on with injury rehabilitation, psychological development and nutrition advice given to my athletes.

Where would you like to be in 5 years?

My UKSCA assessment date is in April so hopefully I would have that under my belt in 5 years and then get my MSc finished. I have always wanted to live abroad particularly in Australia, if all goes to plan I would be on the road to working there. However who knows what life will throw my way it's all a learning curve and if the right opportunities arises I'm sure I'll take it.