320: The Challenges of Modern Collegiate Sport

About this episode

Heather Farmer discusses the challenges and realities of modern collegiate sport and the importance of a human-centered approach in sport science.

This week on the Science for Sport Podcast, Richard Graves is joined by Heather Farmer, Assistant Athletics Director, Sports Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Heather has been part of the UNLV athletics staff since 2016, first joining as Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning before moving into sport science and later being promoted to Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Science in 2024. In this episode, Heather shares how UNLV has built a sport science model from the ground up, why data should inform rather than dictate decisions, and how practitioners can create real buy-in across coaches, athletes, strength and conditioning, sports medicine, nutrition and psychology. The conversation explores the realities of working in collegiate sport, from the impact of the transfer portal to the challenge of supporting athletes when timeframes are shorter and rosters are constantly changing. Heather also discusses the importance of female athlete data, the risks of over-relying on wearable technology, and why return-to-play decisions must go beyond timelines and basic fitness markers. Throughout the episode, Heather brings the conversation back to one core…

People in this episode

Host: Richard Graves

Guest: Heather Farmer

Topics covered

• sport science
• collegiate athletics
• data-driven decisions
• athlete support
• female athlete data
• wearable technology
• return-to-play decisions

Keywords

• sport science
• collegiate sport
• data
• athlete support
• wearable technology
• female athletes
• performance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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