Introduction

‘Working-fast and working-slow’ in sport describes the concept that practice and research can be integrated to improve high-performance outcomes and enhance professional practice.1 ‘Working-fast’ is the task of the fast-thinking, intuitive practitioner operating on ‘the ground’ at a frenetic pace, interacting with coaches and athletes, and delivering the daily preparation programme. ‘Working-slow’ is key for the team's deliberate, focused researcher acting as the resident sceptic, operating behind the scenes on tasks that the ‘fast-practitioner’ may not have time and/or skills to undertake. Such hidden, but important, tasks include determining measurement noise/error in performance tests, establishing proof of concept for new ideas and ensuring validity of methods. Embedding research into the fast environment of high-performance football may provide a competitive advantage using ethical and evidence-based methods.1

Football teams can learn from many of the world's largest technology companies,2 which embed research within their organisations to improve efficiency and enhance productivity. Such a strategy is coined ‘Research and Development’ (R&D), and defined as: ‘work directed toward the innovation, introduction and improvement of processes’.3 However, …