Shane Cahill – Education Director

Shane Cahill is a retired professional rugby player and the Education Director for Athletic Performance Education Company. Shane was a professional athlete and spent the majority of his professional rugby career playing in the UK. The most recent club that he played for was London Welsh in the RFU Aviva Premiership.

Before embarking on life as a professional athlete he studied Sports and Fitness Leisure Management in Dublin, Ireland. Shane has gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience as both a professional athlete and as a strength & conditioning coach.

Shane has worked with various professional athletes and teams from the UK. He spent two years as the head of strength and conditioning at Rotherham Titans in the English Championship where he led the physical development and preparation of the players as well as overseeing the return to play protocols.

Shane has also consulted for various education companies and organisation throughout Europe in the areas of best practices in professional sports.

His role as Education Director at Athletic Performance Education Company is focused on directing all education and operational activities. His main focus is on the delivery of both strength and conditioning workshops and accredited programmes, while also working with numerous sports teams and their ongoing development in their educational strength and conditioning needs.

 

Dr Adam Grainger – Performance Coach Hockey Ireland

Dr Adam Grainger is a PhD graduate and accredited S&C coach, with extensive experience in elite applied sports science settings. Originally from Holywood, Co. Down, Adam left Ireland in 1999 to complete a year teaching in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, before completing his BSc (Hons) and Masters in Sports Science at Brunel University London. After graduation, Adam worked in English Premiership Rugby for twelve years (Saracens, London Wasps and Sale Sharks). Having won the English Premiership in 2008 with London Wasps, Adam moved to Sale Sharks as the Head of Performance where his main responsibilities included leading the physical preparation of the players and managing their training load. During his time working in rugby, Adam was a part-time lecturer at Kingston University, leading both the Performance Analysis in Sport and Coaching Science modules.

Upon returning to Ireland in November 2016, Adam began working at University College Dublin as Head S&C Coach and Lecturer. In this role, he provided coached elite athlete-scholars, many of whom are current Olympians and elite team sports athletes. Alongside this applied work within the University College Dublin High-Performance Gym, Adam also led undergraduate and postgraduate sport science modules.

In December 2017, Adam was appointed Performance Director for Hockey Ireland. This role involves the implementation of a high-performance plan that ensures the continued development of the Ireland senior teams (men’s and women’s) and prepares junior players to impact at the senior level (Olympics and World Cups). Liaising with Irish sport governing bodies regards both funding and player provision, while leading on all high-performance matters, Adam aims to maximise the undoubted potential of hockey in Ireland.

Alongside his current employment, Adam is a regular contributor at sport science conferences and in October 2016 was appointed Chair of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science Performance Division.”

Sami Dowling – Irish Hockey S&C Coach and Ex-Leinster Rugby S&C Coach

Sami Dowling brings fantastic practical experience to the APEC education team. Working at the elite level of both rugby union and GAA, Sami has become a household name within the areas of Speed and Olympic Lifting.
Sami Dowling was a professional Strength & Conditioning coach with Leinster Rugby Academy for 10 years, one of Europe’s top professional rugby Academy’s.
He also served as National S&C coach to the Irish rugby U18 and U19 men’s teams as well as head S&C coach to the Irish Women’s Rugby team.
In GAA Sami has worked at the highest level, serving as an S&C coach with Down and Dublin football teams, winning an All-Ireland with the Dublin Senior team in 2011 and the Dublin U21 and Minor teams in 2012.
At club level, Sami has been involved with St.Vincent’s GAA, setting up the S&C programme in 2011 with their senior football teams and since 2013 Sami has been involved with Cuala GAA Senior football and hurling teams.
As well as having a strong background in S&C for field sports, Sami has coached athletes to a high level in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting.
In the last four years, Sami has coached lifters who have competed at the World Championships, the European Senior Championships, European Junior & U23 Championships, the Women’s International Grand Prix and the Celtic Nations Championship.
Sami has coached at the World Junior Championships, European Senior Championships and was the head coach at the European Junior & U23 Championships in 2014 and 2015.
The Head Coach at Prodigy Barbell, which won the National Club Championships with the men’s team in 2014 and women’s team in 2013, 2014 & 2015, Sami also served as Performance Director for Weightlifting Ireland for an incredibly successful two year period.

Sebastian Kanitz – German Regional  Education Director

Sebastian is the German Regional Education Director at APEC. He oversees the delivery of the educational workshops and NASC courses in all Germany speaking countries in Europe. Sebastian studies Sports Scientist at the University of Leipzig.
He has built the name of a well-renowned performance coach in Germany over the last 10 years. He was one of the Founder of the successful Peakformance Performance where APEC currently run there NASC courses from. He has also been very successful in the creation of outdoor function training systems which is currently being used worldwide.
He has vast tutor experience with DFLV / LSB delivering to performance coaches in Germany. Sebastian has also worked for RB Leipzig as a strength and conditioning coach where he looked after the physical preparation and Long Term Athletic Development (LTAD) of the under 17s right through to the under 19s teams.

Lee Eldridge – Human Performance Coach At Hinsta Performance

Lee Eldridge is an accredited strength and conditioning coach from the UK Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA). He has over a decade of experience working with a number of elite individuals and team athletes.

Lee has both a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science and MSc in Human Performance. Lee has also completed a postgraduate certificate in strength and conditioning. He has worked with a number of individual and team athletes, including a world-ranked tennis player and a top amateur golfer. While working in the UK, Lee has worked as a Strength and Conditioning Coach for London Welsh Rugby Club. In this role, he is a return-to-play specialist and the head of strength & conditioning. Adding to this role he has gained experience as a strength & conditioning coach at both Premiership Football Clubs (Fulham Football Club and Watford Football Club) and Rugby Union Club (London Wasps Rugby Club).

Lee is currently a performance coach at Hinsta Performance, as well as a tutor on APEC’s educational courses.

Lee has spent time at the IMG Performance Institute in Florida working with American football players, elite tennis players (Tennis, Naomi Cavaday) and golfers.

 

Mathew Banks – Hartpury, Head of  Strength and Conditioning

Mathew Banks started as a student at the University of the West of England, where in conjunction with his dissertation worked with Filton College’s Bristol Rugby Academy AASE side as a part-time intern. Upon graduating from UWE, Mathew was successful in acquiring a role at London Welsh Rugby Club as a full-time strength & conditioning coach for the 2013/14 season. During this season, London Welsh was promoted from the Greene King IPA Championship to the AVIA Premiership. After graduating university, Mathew then enrolled on a part-time MSc in strength & conditioning at St. Mary’s University in London.

After a successful year at London Welsh, Mathew was then appointed first-team strength & conditioning coach for the Premiership Campaign. During this time Mathew also took the opportunity to work with Challenge Tennis and Buckinghamshire County Tennis as a strength & conditioning coach working with ranked tennis players.

Currently, Mathew is the head strength & conditioning coach for Hartpury Rugby, where he is responsible for all the elite rugby athletes. Hartpury is recognised for its excellent rugby pedigree, with University, AASE and national league 1 teams all excelling. In conjunction with this role, Mathew works for Gloucester Rugby Club as a strength & conditioning coach.

Mathew has a keen interest in the development of strength and power in team sports athletes and using Olympic weightlifting and their derivatives in a team environment. Mathew currently delivers education content in the area of strength and power and delivers on the various workshop as a tutor for APEC.

Kamil Sawicki – Polish Regional Program Adviser

Kamil is the Polish Regional Program Advise at APEC. He is responsible for the build-out and development of the educational course and workshop in all the major city in Poland.

 

He is a well establish athlete and coach with an impressive pedigree. He is currently an England boxing coach working out of Scarborough Boxing Club. Before he made the transition to coach
he competed as a professional boxer for 5 years. Kamil in his earlier years also mastered the craft of karate kukushin where he fought competitively at a high level in Poland.

Alongside Kamils role at APEC, he also delivers the education for the well renowned Krav Maga defence courses in the UK. Education has always been at the forefront of Kamils mind and as such he strives and continues to grow the education curriculum in Poland.