He’s prepped UFC fighters for battle and helped Olympians chase gold medals, and now Joseph Coyne has settled into advancing the Bond Elite Sport Program.
With a rich background in high-performance sports and an impressive track record, Dr Coyne is set to elevate the BESPies to even greater heights.
For the past two years, Dr Coyne has been an integral part of Bond's swimming program, serving as the strength and conditioning coach for the high-performance athletes.
He has now been entrusted with an expanded role to support all Bond’s elite athletes.
Bond Director of Sport Mike Collins said the introduction of an in-house sport scientist with extensive industry experience was a natural extension of the university’s vision for the program.
“We are all about helping our students reach their goals, both academically and with their sports,” he said.
“Having someone of Joe’s calibre on-site will be hugely beneficial to our athletes, not only with the breadth of his expertise but also the convenience of being able to tap into that knowledge here on campus.’’
Dr Coyne grew up in New Zealand and relocated to the Gold Coast in 2005.
Since then, his career took him to various corners of the world, including China where he held key positions in the field of sports performance.
“I held a job as Performance Director for the Chinese Olympic Committee and another with the Chinese Athletics Association as a physical preparation specialist,” Dr Coyne said.
“In 2019 I took up a job at the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) as a Performance Director.”
While balancing these demanding roles, Dr Coyne also managed to invest significant time in his academic pursuits.
He earned a Master of Science by Research in Sport Science, focusing on the influence of anthropometric and upper body strength qualities on surfboard paddling kinematics.
This laid the foundation for his PhD in Sport Science and his research on training load and performance.
“After my time with the UFC I brought my family back to Australia, and that's when the opportunity to work with the Bond University swimming squad arose,” he said.
“Since then I’ve been working on swimmers’ strength and power work and it’s been a truly rewarding experience watching athletes progress in and out of the pool.”
Now, after making a substantial impact on Bond's swimming program, Dr Coyne is poised to broaden his horizons.
“I will be working with Bond Sport to offer my expertise to all of the Bond Elite Sports Program athletes,” Dr Coyne said.
“Our aim is to provide comprehensive support in strength and conditioning, sports dietetics, sports science and physio.
“I’m really excited to be working with the BESP (Bond Elite Sports Program) athletes and helping them to reach their goals.”