{"id":36886,"date":"2026-11-12T14:20:40","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T14:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=36886"},"modified":"2026-11-12T14:23:25","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T14:23:25","slug":"is-your-problem-really-the-athlete-or-is-it-the-programme-you-prescribed","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/is-your-problem-really-the-athlete-or-is-it-the-programme-you-prescribed\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your Problem Really the Athlete or Is it the Programme you Prescribed?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 12 Nov 2026 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Is your Problem Really the Athlete or Is it the Programme you Prescribed?<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As Simon Rice of the Philadelphia 76ers explained, sometimes the athlete needs to change. Sometimes the programme must. The responsibility of the performance team is to recognise which one, and act accordingly.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
Before you think about athlete compliance, can you be sure you prescribed the right programme?<\/h6>\n

Simon Rice, the Vice President of Athlete Care at the Philadelphia 76ers, knows that feeling when a programme does not achieve the expected result with an athlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so quick when something isn\u2019t working to say \u2018they didn\u2019t do it as hard as they could\u2019; \u2018they missed three of these sessions\u2019; \u2018they were sore, they didn\u2019t lift properly,\u201d he told the Leaders Performance Podcast<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

This explanation, he argued, places too much responsibility on the player and too little on those who designed the intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s not a negative if it doesn\u2019t work, if we thought it was the right programme,\u201d Rice continued, \u201cbut it allows us to change direction a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then went on to describe why there is more to athlete programming than mere personalisation.<\/p>\n

What \u2018athlete-centred\u2019 truly means<\/strong><\/p>\n

Often, \u2018athlete-centred\u2019 is interpreted as adapting services to the individual, but Rice believes greater emphasis should be placed on the practitioner\u2019s accountability for the programme they prescribed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a programme does not produce the desired effect, Rice believes the practitioner must be prepared to address that with the player. He said: \u201cIt allows us to say to the player, \u2018Look, we identified this, the programme didn\u2019t change what we thought it would change. That\u2019s not because you didn\u2019t do the programme. That\u2019s not because you didn\u2019t do your best.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather, it is evidence to lean on, not necessarily proof of failure. As Rice said, \u201c\u2018That\u2019s important information, which means as a staff group, we\u2019re going to change what we do now\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Establish priorities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rice believes it is a \u201cluxury\u201d for him and his players to work with a relatively small roster (15 players). It enables them to assess each player in turn across the range of sports science factors. Much of the work is done in pre-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo performance, sports science, nutrition, injury mitigation and prevention; broadly speaking, how do we improve that performance? How do we reduce the injury risk? I guess are the two things we look at. We break that down. We want between one and ideally three points for each of those areas, not too many more than that,\u201d said Rice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we have that in a spreadsheet so we know what that is; and then I think the natural progression from there is to say, well, if we\u2019ve all agreed this is their priority area, an example, improve body composition, improve upper body strength, improve left ankle dorsiflexion range of movement. The flow on from there is reasonably straightforward to see what programmes need to be implemented for this player and who\u2019s going to drive them.\u201d<\/p>\n

You must listen to the athlete<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rice observed that players will agree with staff members\u2019 interpretations \u201c85% of the time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOccasionally a player says, \u2018yeah, I get that. I don\u2019t feel I\u2019m strong enough. I\u2019m getting pushed around on the court. I feel like I need to be stronger\u2019 and that allows a really good conversation about what does that mean?\u201d said Rice, who explained that these conversations can raise concerns that testing did not pick up.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes that mean you don\u2019t feel strong enough in your core and you\u2019re getting pushed over? Does that mean you feel like you’re too light? And then it allows us to build a programme about where we see the, well, it’s not only where we see the deficits. So we want to obviously bring up some deficits, but also improve their strengths. And then also what do they feel like they need?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice described the example of a player who was concerned about losing muscle mass during the course of the NBA season. \u201cIf we didn\u2019t have that conversation, it may not have flagged in something that we thought was important, but it was really important to that player.\u201d<\/p>\n

End of season<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of the season, Rice will sit down with each player and their strength coach, physical therapist and nutritionist in front of a screen to assess their progress. They will discuss:<\/p>\n