The Royal Ballet School and Podium Analytics announce partnership to reduce injury in youth ballet

The Royal Ballet School, a world-leading centre for classical ballet training, and Podium Analytics (“Podium”), the NGO and charity committed to reducing injury in sport, have today announced a partnership to reduce injury and enable long-term participation.

Podium will support The Royal Ballet School by enhancing its injury prevention and management processes via its SportSmart platform, which enables teachers and coaches to log, track, monitor and manage injuries sustained during physical activity.

At the same time, Podium will benefit from injury insights gathered by The Royal Ballet School.
The multidisciplinary healthcare team at The Royal Ballet School already collects data on dancers between the age of 11 and 19 to understand the key stages in a students’ growth and development – both physical and psychological – as they balance academic work with an elite artistic education and a comprehensive supplementary training programme.

The injury data collected by its expert team and via the SportSmart platform will help build a better understanding of injury risk and impact over time, and to find solutions that aim to significantly reduce injury that can be applied across all sport.

Karen Sheriff, Head of Healthcare at The Royal Ballet School, said: ‘Podium Analytics is uniquely placed to support us with our research at The Royal Ballet School. We are committed to delivering the highest standards of care to our young, developing dancers to help them reach and fulfil their potential safely and successfully. For us, injury prevention is the ultimate objective, and we are so excited to be joining Podium on its journey to create a safer world of sport.’

Glenn Hunter, Director of Research and Innovation at Podium Analytics, said: ‘Podium and The Royal Ballet School are aligned in an ambition to reduce injury and enable long-term participation. The information the school collects will be instrumental in helping us better understand the links between exposure and injury occurrence. We look forward to working together to deliver real change, and in liberating young people to fully express themselves through dance.’