National Performance Support Systems

Biomechanics

Andrew Lyttle

Andrew Lyttle has been Lead Sports Biomechanist at the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) for 19 years and has worked across many of the institute-based sports, most notably in Athletics and Swimming.

Andrew completed his PhD in Sports Biomechanics at The University of Western Australia in 1999, and in addition to a range of leadership roles within Australian sport he has co-created and implemented research and technological innovation projects.

More recently Andrew has been involved in the initial stages of a tech start-up, working as a data analyst, and lecturing in Sport and Fitness at TAFE. Andrew is based in Perth.

More information: Performance Support - Biomechanics

Performance Nutrition

Kylie Andrew

Kylie is an Advanced Sports Dietitian and Accredited Practicing Dietitian with over 30 years’ experience in high performance sport.

Kylie was the Nutrition Manager at the Victorian Institute of Sport for 15 years, where she also and worked with Suncorp Super Netball Team Melbourne Vixens. She has provided nutrition support to athletes across a wide range of sports, from pathway to high performance, across Olympic and Paralympic sport and was also the Lead Dietitian at Richmond Football Club for almost 20 years.

Kylie is the Nutrition Lead for the Australian Commonwealth Games Team for Glasgow 2026 and was part of the nutrition team for the Australian Paralympic Team in 2024

More information: Performance Support - Performance Nutrition

Sports Medicine

David Hughes

Dr David Hughes is the current AIS Chief Medical Officer and is a fellow and former President and Chair of Training of the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians.

David has extensive experience as team physician in Basketball, Rugby, and Football. David was the Medical Director of the Australian Olympic Team for both the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

David is based in Canberra.

More information: Performance Support - Sports Medicine

Performance Psychology

Kristine Dun

Kristine is a performance psychologist with considerable experience in Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth sports. Kris has worked in the Australian and UK High Performance Sport Systems and joins us from the ACT Academy of Sport where she has worked as a Sport Psychologist for five years.

Kris has a Doctorate in Sport and Exercise Psychology and is an approved supervisor. Kris has a passion for sport and “will give most things a go”.

Kris is based in Canberra.

More information: Performance Support - Performance Psychology

Physical Therapies

Paula Peralta

Paula is a Specialist Sports & Exercise Physiotherapist and a Fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists (FACP) based in Sydney. She has worked within the National Institute Network and across multiple National Sporting Organisations in para and non para sport.

Paula is the Head of Medical for the Australian Opals and was the Physical Therapies Lead for Paralympics Australia for Tokyo and Paris campaigns. She has worked with the Australian Boomers, the Australian Diamonds and with the Australian team at multiple Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic Games. She is a member of the Female Performance and Health Initiative (FPHI) Industry Reference Group.

Paula is based in Sydney.

More information: Performance Support - Physical Therapies

Physiology

Laura Piromalli

With over 15 years of experience in the HP system as a Physiologist and Performance Manager, Laura has worked in roles at the AIS, Netball Australia, and the WAIS, providing expertise supporting athletes from elite pathways to international competition, including both Olympic and Paralympic Program athletes. She has worked across a wide range of sports, including Netball, Triathlon, Boxing and Bowls, optimising performance programming, recovery, and athlete well-being. Her background as a Physiologist (from an on the ground delivery perspective and research, PhD) and experience as a Performance Manager is hugely beneficial for leading the National Physiology Network.

More information: Performance Support -  Physiology

Strength & Conditioning

Kieran Young

Kieran Young joins the ASC from his previous role as performance support manager at Paddle Australia where he led the performance support team across sprint, slalom and paracanoe. Prior to this, he has worked with elite tactical organisations and was the head of strength & conditioning at the Queensland Academy of Sport and the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific.

Kieran holds a Masters of Science and is a Master Coach with the ASCA. Kieran is based on the Gold Coast.

More information: Performance Support - Strength & Conditioning

Wellbeing & Engagement

Bianca Fermi

Bianca is a mental health clinician with extensive experience working in wellbeing in high performance environments, including both Olympic and Paralympic sport and the Financial Services sector.

Bianca has experience in one-to-one counselling and coaching as well as group delivery providing mental health, wellbeing, and career support. Her roles have included the Performance Lifestyle Advisor at the English Institute of Sport and the British Sailing Team.

Bianca has previously been the Athlete Wellbeing & Engagement Manager for Rowing Australia.

Skill Acquisition

Michael Maloney

Michael is a skill acquisition specialist with 15 years’ experience working across Olympic and Paralympic sport as both a practitioner and researcher. He holds a PhD in skill acquisition, with a focus on practice methods that support skill retention and transfer. Michael has held industry roles at the South Australian Sports Institute and the Australian Institute of Sport, where he supported coaches to design and deliver athlete skill development programs. In these positions, he worked across multiple programs preparing for the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Michael also holds an appointment at the University of Canberra as a lecturer in skill acquisition, mentoring students and leading applied research projects.

Michael is based in Canberra.

More information: Performance Support - Skill Acquisition

Performance Analysis

Alison Alcock

Alison is an award-winning high performance manager and sport scientist, with extensive experience across summer, winter and professional sports in both the Australian and UK high performance systems. A specialist in multi-disciplinary support and delivering individualised performance solutions, she has worked with international teams as a performance analyst, biomechanist, soft-tissue therapist and Covid Manager, as well as held the role of Performance Support and Wellbeing Manager at multiple Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Alison holds a PhD in Performance Analysis and Biomechanics, is an assessor for the International Society of Performance Analysis in Sport accreditation program, and has contributed to Exercise and Sport Science Australia through roles on the Sport Science Advisory Group and State Committee.

Alison is based in Canberra.

More information: Performance  Support -  Performance Analysis

Paralympic Personal Carer

Kate Mcintosh

Kate has 12 years of experience in high-performance sport, including a role with Athletics Australia and as a Senior Grade 3 Occupational Therapist where she had the opportunity to work with AA and other stakeholders in high-performance sport to establish protocols for personal care and athlete support.

Additionally as a OT clinical supervisor and leader, she has identified gaps in service delivery and staff skillsets, developing innovative training programs to address these needs. For example, introducing both the Graduate Program and Early Career Pathway streams for OTs within her private practice to foster early career development, mentorship, and supervision.

Over the past decade, her roles have helped shape and advocate for capacity building and social-emotional support among athletes, particularly in high-stress environments like international competitions. Her recognition of support development needs and creation of tailored solutions will assist the translation into addressing capability gaps within the national para personal care system.

Paralympic Personal Carer

Rachel Gale

Rachel has over nine years of experience in the Australian High-Performance Sports System. Most recently Rachel was a consultant, project manager and the lead author of: “Addressing barriers to entry and progression for Para athletes in HP pathways”, a Priority HP2032+ Horizon one project.  Rachel has a diverse range of experience including holding the role of Performance Support Development Advisor with the AIS, responsible for redesigning, delivering and evaluating the AIS Practitioner Development Program, as well as supporting the delivery of the AIS Accelerate and Elevate Coach Programs. Rachel holds a Masters of Health (Research) and teaches into Charles Sturt University’s Human Exercise Physiology course as a sessional academic. Rachel is based in Albury, NSW.

Physiology

Lachlan Mitchell

Lachlan brings deep applied experience in high-performance sport and a passion for the impact of physiology can have on medal winning performance to the role. He has spent much of his career, over the last 5 Paralympic and Olympic Games cycles, working in Australian Swimming, supporting numerous athletes and coaches at the AIS, QAS and VIS. Lachlan also has a passion for athlete pathways, having spent 5 years embedded within the Swim Aus High Performance Pathways team as Performance Support Manager.

Lachlan’s professional focus is on sustainable performance — aligning multidisciplinary teams, physiology, training design, and athlete wellbeing. He is passionate about developing practitioners, strengthening cross-discipline integration, and creating environments where athletes and staff can perform consistently at their best.

More information: Performance Support - Physiology

Skill Acquisition

Derek Panchuk

Derek is a leading skill acquisition specialist with more than 20 years of experience helping coaches and organisations apply the science of learning to enhance training and athlete performance. He holds a PhD in learning and perception and has worked across academia, the AIS, start-ups, and private industry.

Throughout his career, Derek has supported coaches and athletes from over 32 sports, ranging from community and grassroots programs to professional and Olympic levels. This breadth of experience informs his approach to designing engaging, research driven learning environments for both athletes and coaches.

Derek is based in Canberra.

More information: Performance Support - Skill Acquisition

Performance Analysis

Mathew Harris

Mathew is a performance analyst with over 16 years’ experience working as an applied practitioner and leader in the Australian sports system. They have held industry roles at the South Australian Sports Institute, New South Wales Institute of Sport and now the Victorian Institute of Sport, where they supported programs and coaches to design and deliver performance analysis interventions.

Mathew has supported international benchmark events including World Championships and Olympic Games, most notably in partnership with Water Polo Australia as the Men’s National team analyst in Rio & Tokyo. Mathew’s professional focus is on advocacy for the impact Performance Analysts have on medal winning performances within the performance team.

Mathew is based in Melbourne.

Female Performance and Health Initiative

Dr Rachel Harris

Dr Rachel Harris is the FPHI Project Lead and has been in the role since the initiative began in October 2019. Rachel is a Sport and Exercise Medicine Physician, graduating from the University of Western Australia in 2008. She was previously the Chief Medical Officer for Paralympics Australia.

Not only does Rachel bring more than a decade of experience as a physician, but she also has the lived experience of an elite athlete having represented Australia as a swimmer at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and winning gold in the 800m freestyle at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Female Performance and Health Initiative Research

Clare Minahan

Clare Minahan is an Associate Professor at Griffith University and has a special interest in elite female athletes, and women in sport. She has led the Griffith Sports Science group since 2002. Prior to that she worked as a Sports Scientist at the Queensland Academy of Sport for four years.

Clare has a PhD in Philosophy and brings a wealth of knowledge having published more than 85 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Clare was instrumental in establishing the strategic direction of the FPHI and setting and implementing the research agenda. She is currently supervising numerous post-graduate students embedded in Australian high performance sport organisations.

Disordered Eating

Nikki Jeacocke

Nikki is an Accredited Practising Dietitian, Fellow of Sports Dietitian Australia and Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician with 20 years' experience working in clinical, community and elite athlete contexts.

She currently works at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) as the Senior Sports Dietitian and Disordered Eating Project Lead. Nikki is highly experienced initiating and implementing nutrition systems for elite sporting teams and individual athletes to maximise performance and health outcomes in both Olympic and professional sports.

She has specialist expertise working with athletes in the early identification, prevention and management of disordered eating and eating disorders and was a key member in the development of the AIS and National Eating Disorders Collaboration Disordered Eating in High Performance Sport Position Statement.

As the AIS Disordered Eating Project Lead, Nikki's ongoing work includes leading the AIS contribution to the design, development, implementation and evaluation of a range of disordered eating resources including organisational guidelines and policies, and web-based resources and workshops for coaches, performance support staff and athletes.