Q&A with Harry Routledge

Harry Routledge is a seasoned high-performance practitioner with over a decade of experience across elite sport. Previously the Head of Performance at Oxford United FC, Harry has held leadership roles at LAFC in Major League Soccer alongside roles at Fleetwood Town, Watford and Port Adelaide FC in the AFL. His expertise spans leadership, sport science, nutrition and athlete monitoring. 

In a recent conversation, he reflected on the challenges of balancing physical and tactical priorities, building trust with players and coaches, and why simplicity and communication still sit at the heart of high-performance environments. 

You began your career in nutrition and have since taken on broader performance leadership roles. How has that foundation shaped your holistic approach to athlete performance today?

Initially, working within sport nutrition allowed me to gain a greater understanding of holistic performance provision, as performance nutrition influences all aspects of sport performance. Through this, I gained a better understanding of sport science, strength and conditioning principles, and, in turn, a holistic approach to high performance.

Having worked in both the MLS and the EFL with Oxford United FC, what differences have you noticed in how clubs approach performance, recovery, and nutrition?

Having worked in both Major League Soccer and the English Football League with Oxford United FC, I’ve observed several key differences in how clubs approach performance, recovery and nutrition, largely influenced by the league structures, travel demands and cultural approaches to sports science.

In the EFL, there’s a heavy emphasis on match preparation due to the congested fixture schedule – often two to three games per week. This necessitates a more pragmatic, game-to-game approach where training loads are carefully managed to balance fitness and fatigue. In contrast, MLS typically has a less intense fixture calendar, allowing for more individualized development work and physical conditioning between matches. There’s also generally a higher investment in sports science technology in MLS clubs, which can be used to track and tailor training intensity more precisely.

Travel has a major impact in the MLS – long flights and different time zones are the norm – so recovery strategies are heavily emphasized. Cryotherapy, massage therapy and sleep monitoring are standard in most clubs. In the EFL, travel is more localized, but the high match frequency demands more consistent in-club recovery protocols like contrast baths, light training sessions, and close monitoring of player readiness.

As someone who oversees both sport science and nutrition, how do you balance short-term performance goals with long-term player health and development?

Balancing short-term performance with long-term player health involves personalized training and nutrition, smart periodization and continuous monitoring. We optimize game-day performance through targeted fueling and recovery strategies while supporting long-term development with individualized nutrition and load management. Education and collaboration across departments ensure athletes stay healthy, resilient and progressing over time – never sacrificing future well-being for immediate gains.

With the increasing amount of data available through tracking and testing, how do you ensure it translates into meaningful, individualized support for athletes across physical and nutritional areas?

Translating data is a key component of a head of performance’s role. Data needs to be understandable and actionable and should aid in the decision-making process. To ensure data is meaningful, it’s about educating on what certain data points mean and also ensuring any data presented enhances and influences the decision-making process.

What’s an area within player performance, whether it's recovery, load management, or nutrition, that you think still flies under the radar but deserves more attention in the modern game?

An under-the-radar area in player performance is cognitive fatigue management. While physical recovery gets most of the focus, mental fatigue from travel, media and constant decision-making can impact reaction time, focus and even injury risk. It’s a growing area with big potential, but most teams still overlook it.

How do player-tracking systems factor into your decision-making around training load, recovery, and even nutrition strategies for individual players?

Player-tracking systems – such as GPS units, inertial measurement units (IMUs), and optical tracking technologies – are essential tools in modern sports science for informing decisions on training load, recovery and nutrition. Player-tracking systems provide data on distance, speed, accelerations and overall movement. This helps with:

• Training Load: Adjusting individual sessions to prevent overtraining or undertraining and monitoring workload to reduce injury risk.

  
  
  
  

• Recovery: Assessing fatigue through movement data and heart rate, adjusting recovery strategies based on player performance.

  
  
  
  

• Nutrition: Tailoring nutrition plans by understanding energy expenditure, hydration needs, and recovery demands based on tracked activity.