The Handover Hangover: Sequential vs. Concurrent Return to Performance Models in Elite Sport
Bull L, Buchheit M. The Handover Hangover: Sequential vs. Concurrent Return to Performance Models in Elite Sport. Sport Perf Sci Rep. 2026; Jun; #304:v1.
For years I’ve watched elite organisations invest fortunes in top practitioners, then connect them with a structure that works like a relay race. Physio runs their leg, hands off to S&C, who hands off to the coach. Everyone runs their leg well, but the athlete keeps getting dropped at the exchanges. The fix is not better runners. It’s changing the race.
Lindsay drove this paper, and it puts a name to something the best clubs already do quietly: keep every discipline involved from day one. Physio leads early, but S&C and coaching are present from the start. By the time the athlete returns to the group, there is no handover, because nobody ever left.
What I keep coming back to: the barrier is almost never the talent in the building. It’s culture and psychological safety. People protect their lane when the environment makes openness feel risky. Integration is a leadership job before it’s a clinical one.
On a personal note, my time working with Lindsay at Aspetar was too short. I really wish it had lasted longer, because I enjoyed it immensely. So I’m glad we have this paper together. It’s a good way to keep the momentum we had started to build.
Thank you Lindsay for leading this, and to the colleagues across AFL and European football whose work shaped it.
