St Mary’s Biomechanics Team Partners with Rugby Football Union

Academics at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham have partnered with Jon Callard from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to offer biomechanical support to England U20s players. University College lecturer Dr Neil Bezodis has been working with England RFU coach Jon Callard since 2012 to provide support and advice to the junior teams. The work focuses on rugby place kicking and Dr Bezodis, along with colleagues Alex Atack and Jack Lineham from St Mary’s School of Sport, Health and Applied Science, use state-of-the-art motion capture technology to analyse areas of strength and weaknesses of the kicking technique. Biomechanical analysis provides an understanding of how different parts of the body move and the forces that cause that movement. By using reflective markers that are placed all over the body, infrared cameras are able to track the movement of players and these data are used to create moving images of the kickers on a computer programme. The work has attracted the attention of Sky Sports who recently visited St Mary’s Strawberry Hill campus to film one of the junior players in action in the lab. Biomechanist Dr Bezodis said, “The biomechanics team at St Mary’s work have been collaborating with the Jon Callard and the RFU for about 18 months. “The aim of the work is to both enhance performance and reduce the likelihood of injuries. We look at each kicker as an individual and identify the specific aspects of their technique which might need fine-tuning. For example, one of the kickers we analysed needed to work on increasing his follow through to prevent the chance of injuring his knee, whilst another needed to try and improve his foot position when kicking the ball as the force from his leg was not being transferred effectively to the ball. Using the data we collect in the lab, we’re able to work with the coach and players to create specific training or conditioning plans. “It’s also really important for us to obtain baseline information for these young players as they are still at an early stage in their career development. With our support, they will hopefully be able to continue developing effective and consistent kicking techniques which will help them to progress towards full senior international honours. “It has been great to work with Jon on this project. We both look at kicking from very different approaches but our combined expertise has helped to identify some novel and exciting areas for development. It is also exciting to showcase this work to a wider audience through Sky Sports so that they can see the work we are doing here at St Mary’s.” Jon Callard commented, “The work with St Mary’s is invaluable. It gives us a better understanding of the individuals we deal with and gives them a better understanding of their mechanics in relation to their goal kicking. This understanding can then be translated into good practice and successful performances.” In addition to working with professional athletes and sports teams, the biomechanics team also works with students on the Sport Science programme who can go on to use these techniques as part of their final year dissertations.