Head of Performance Support
Meet our Heads of Performance Support
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Kate Eddy
Sailing
Kate has worked in the UK High Performance system for 15 years across a range of sports.
She values working collaboratively to shape environments and develop people and draws on both her experiences – as a coach and a scientist – to do this well.
As the Head of Performance Support for Sailing, she believes that the leadership of Performance Support is a responsibility that needs to be managed carefully and must always consider the athlete’s point of view and the context of the sport.
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Georgina Sharples
Equestrian
Georgina joined the UK Sports Institute in 2017 as Head of Performance Support working with British Equestrian.
A former international hockey player, bobsledder and PE/Science teacher, Georgina first joined the UK Sports Institute in 2005 as an Athlete Support Manager working with various sports across the West Midlands. She took up the role of Pre Games Preparation Manger for the British Paralympic Association for the Beijing Games cycle, before moving to British Gymnastics in 2009 to lead the Trampoline World Class Programme.
In 2011 Georgina was appointed Head of Performance at the British Paralympic Association for the London 2012 Games and combined this with the role of Paralympics GB Deputy Chef de Mission for the Sochi 2014, and Rio 2016 Games.
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Ian Gatt
Boxing
Joining the UK Sports Institute in 2007, Ian enjoyed a two year spell with GB Volleyball, before being recruited by GB Boxing, attending both the London
2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics with the sport.
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Jill Crompton
Olympic Table Tennis, Paralympic Table Tennis and multisport
Jill began her career at the UK Sports Institute in 2007 as a physiotherapist working over the next few years with Olympic Table Tennis, Paralympic Table Tennis and multisport.
In 2014 Jill joined the physiotherapy technical lead team as a Paralympic Technical Lead. She successfully completed an MSc in Sports Injury Rehab with a focus on Paralympic athletes. Jill took up the position of Head of Performance Support with British Paralympic Table Tennis in 2017. Alongside this role she retains part-time work as a physiotherapist.
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Brian Cunniffe
Canoe & Para Canoe
Brian is a UK Sports Institute Performance Lead with particular responsibility for Canoeing (Sprint and Slalom), Hockey and Wheelchair Tennis.
In his career, Brian has supported the British and Irish Lions as their Performance Scientist in successful tours of Australia and New Zealand. He spent two years as a Senior Sports Scientist at the BOA and has an MSc in Sports Nutrition, a PhD in Exercise Physiology and is an honorary research associate at University College London.
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Nick Scott
Rowing & Para Rowing
Nick has been involved in performance sport since his time on the Sailing World Class Programme as an athlete.
Nick began his role as Head of Performance Support for British Rowing in April 2019, having previously been Head of Performance Support for British Triathlon and Short Track Speed Skating.
A former sailing coach and civil engineer by training, Nick uses his experience of all facets of performance sport from his time in sports sponsorship, coaching, sports management and across the High Performance System in the UK Sports Institute, to align the team behind the team to what really matters.
Helping people realise their potential is one of Nick’s main drivers, so a focus on, and commitment to, developing people in order to deliver performance sits at the heart of how he works.
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Chris Price
Modern Pentathlon and Judo
Chris Price was appointed as a Performance Lead in 2015 after six years as UK Sports Institute Head of Physiotherapy and Soft tissue therapy.
He spent 10 years at the NHS and in private practice before moving into sport in 2000 as Head of Physiotherapy at the University of Bath Sport Injuries Clinic. He moved to the UK Sports Institute in 2006 as Senior Regional Physiotherapist before being promoted to Head of Service.
He has supported athletes at numerous major events including the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester (Triathlon), the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Turin and Vancouver (Skeleton) and London 2012 Olympic Games (Sailing).
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Chris Wagg
Shooting, Para-Shooting & Boccia
Member of the Boccia International Sports Federation Competition Committee
Chris joined the UK Sports Institute in April 2009 working with GB Boccia to develop performance pathway tools to identify potential Boccia medal winning athletes.
He became GB Boccia’s performance analyst later in 2009, extending his work to support world class programme athletes. In 2012, undertook a secondment with the UK Sports Institute Performance Pathways Team.
In 2013, Chris he combined the role of Technical Coach alongside developing the sport’s performance model. As coach, he has primarily worked with the BC1/2 Team, supporting them to achieve a gold medal at the 2015 European qualification event for Rio 2016. He is a member of the Boccia International Sports Federation Competition Committee.
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Tom Hignett
Wheelchair Basketball
Tom graduated as a Physiotherapist in 2006. Prior to joining the UK Sports Institute he worked as a Physiotherapist in Rugby for four years.
He then moved into academia for two years working as a Research Associate at the University of Nottingham on Injury/Illness across the UK High Performance System, in the build up to and during the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
Following this Tom joined the UK Sports Institute as a Physio working with the British Canoeing Paralympic Programme. During this time he led on Classification for the programme as well as being involved in the Upper Limb and Paralympic Working Groups.
Tom currently works as a Head of Performance Support (HoPS) for British Wheelchair Basketball and a Physiotherapist for the British Canoeing Paralympic and Olympic programmes.