Revealed: High-tech approach is key to Lightning success

SUNSHINE Coast Lightning turned heads with back-to-back Super Netball premiership victories that were built on a series of innovative training methods.

CHAMPIONS: Lightning players celebrate their first win in the inaugural Suncorp Super Netball Grand Final at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in 2017. Picture: Contributed

SUNSHINE Coast Lightning turned heads with back-to-back Super Netball premiership victories that were built on a series of innovative training methods.

After losing the first three games of the season, Lightning fought back to win the 2018 tournament against West Coast Fever in Perth, securing a perfect record in finals.

The platform for the stunning turnaround was set up by high-tech approaches to training, analysis, fitness and nutrition. Now Lightning is revealing some of its off-court secrets.

HIGH-TECH ANALYSIS: Lightning performance analyst Anthony Bedford takes a scientific and mathematical approach. Picture: Patrick Woods

Performance analyst Anthony Bedford said the team had used the slow start to its advantage and focused heavily on analytics to improve the skills and fitness of the players with an eye on the finals.

"The results weren't happening, so we just upped our analysis,” he said.

Heart-rate monitors and Catapult Clearsky trackers, which allow indoor GPS monitoring, were built into each player's uniform to gather data on every on-court move.

"These two devices talk to each other and then they have a conversation with me, and that goes on to a computer,” Bedford said. "I then look at their workload.”

The movements on the court were not the only things strategically tracked throughout the season.

Strength and conditioning coach Mark McKean said his job was to make each player "bigger, faster and stronger” to cope with the physical demands of netball, which had traditionally been seen as a non-contact sport.

One of the innovative training techniques McKean used was tackle pads. He said this was employed to develop the players' on-court contact.

"They have to learn how to absorb impact,” he said.

"It's a little bit like the old-style rugby where you would see them run in and bash a pad.

"We do that with the netball girls.

"It's gone from a non-contact sport to a moderate-contact sport.”

The Lightning hold a training session at the University of the Sunshine Coast ahead of their 2018 grand final in Perth. Picture: John McCutcheon

McKean said in the gym, the team's focus was not on losing body fat, but gaining lean muscle.

He said the change had been integral to their campaign.

"We don't really care about body fat so much but we care about how much muscle they have because that then tells me how strong we can make them,” he said.

McKean's strength and conditioning methods were crucial to keeping the club's first-choice players on court throughout the season.

The results were career-best seasons during the two trophy-winning campaigns.

High-performance manager Narelle Sibte said it was great to have support staff such as Bedford and McKean, who could keep the players healthy throughout the seasons.

"We were able to get the cream of the crop in terms of support staff,” she said.

"Other clubs based in big cities tend to work with sizeable organisations, but we had the luxury of selecting individuals we thought would be the right fit.

"We think it's awesome to have had the success over the past two years.”

Lightning, which is co-owned by Melbourne Storm and USC, farewelled a string of high-profile players in Geva Mentor, Caitlin Bassett and Kelsey Browne during the off-season, but the support staff have also been in demand.

Strength and conditioning intern Kristie Sheridan impressed so much this year that she was picked up by Adelaide Thunderbirds as their head strength and conditioning coach.

Meanwhile, the new signings headed to Lightning will have their food and drink intake analysed and be assigned individual nutrition programs.

Performance dietitian Kellie Hogan said tracking hydration of the players through urine-specific gravity strategies were important during training and game days.

"I will measure their sweat rate and their fluid intake and then try and give each person quite a personalised hourly sweat rate so they can have some targets around their re-hydration practices,” Hogan said.

As Lightning increased its analytical training, it also revisited nutrition strategies and incorporated "real food” into the diets of the athletes.

Hogan said supplements only contributed up to five per cent of performance and were not crucial to their diets.

"We try to meet most of our nutritional needs through whole foods and real foods, really nourishing food,” she said.

Players eat an assortment of foods but carbohydrates, including wholemeal bread, crackers, brown rice and pasta, were essential to their training.

"I really focus on carbohydrates. (They) are a strong requirement for them because of the nature of the training they do,” Hogan said.

Sibte said the changes Hogan made were "huge”.

"If I average it out, in the first year they lost something like 20kg of body fat and gained 20kg of muscle - that's incredible,” she said.