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Overview
Name: Tennille Cuttiford
Role: Strength and Conditioning Coach
Organization: Maribyrnong Sports Academy (MSA)
At Maribyrnong Sports Academy, Tennille Cuttiford leads the development of athletic performance through an evidence-based, athlete-first approach. With over 22 sports represented, and a student-athlete cohort ranging from gymnastics to AFL and Taekwondo, the challenge lies in delivering personalized, scalable programs across diverse needs. VueMotion has become a cornerstone in their performance strategy—shaping how they assess, educate, and develop movement competencies.
Challenge
Maribyrnong's mission is to graduate student-athletes with high movement competency. Traditionally, this involved a mix of sport-specific and general movement programming. However, the need to:
- Objectively track individual progress,
- Improve athlete buy-in,
- Detect deficiencies beyond the Coach’s Eye,
- and Educate visually-driven youth athletes,
…meant the team needed technology that was easy to implement, athlete-friendly, and rich with actionable insight.
Solution: Integrating VueMotion
VueMotion allowed Tennille and the MSA team to measure three key metrics—positive running, switching, and stiffness—with precision and efficiency. More than a diagnostic tool, VueMotion became a foundational education and coaching resource, transforming both the teaching process and the athletes’ learning experience.
"We slow it down, analyze the kinograms, highlight angles and lines—it’s one of our most valuable teaching tools."
Using a single smartphone, large squad testing became simple and scalable, removing barriers presented by traditional timing gates or motion tracking systems.
Key Outcomes
Improved Performance
An AFL athlete in Tennille’s program improved 0.91 seconds in max velocity over 20 weeks through a targeted running technique and plyometrics program informed by VueMotion.
Efficient Testing at Scale
Tennille tested 40 athletes in one session using only a phone and a few key markers. The frictionless setup has made regular testing feasible for large squads.
Enhanced Athlete Buy-In
Student-athletes became more invested in their development after seeing video kinograms of themselves. “It’s like serving broccoli to a toddler,” Tennille jokes. “When we integrate it into the program naturally, buy-in skyrockets.”
Injury Insight and Prevention
VueMotion helped identify asymmetries in an athlete recovering from hamstring issues. Combined with flexibility screenings and coaching intuition, this data informed successful targeted interventions.
Impact on Coaching
VueMotion didn’t change how Tennille coaches—it validated why she coaches the way she does:
“It gives me greater conviction and enhances athlete buy-in. It strengthens the rationale behind my programming.”
She also notes that VueMotion enables coaches to detect and address movement commonalities across cohorts, such as widespread deficits in ankle stiffness and positive running technique—leading to the introduction of programming tailored to address those gaps.
Conclusion
VueMotion has become more than a performance assessment tool at Maribyrnong, it’s a platform for athlete education, engagement, and progression. Whether refining an elite AFL runner or introducing movement literacy to a Taekwondo athlete, VueMotion enables Tennille and her team to teach better, test smarter, and coach with greater clarity.
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Chat Transcript
Tennille Cuttiford – Maribyrnong Sports Academy
Strength and Conditioning Coach
What is the main goal at MSA?
The main goal here at Maribyrnong Sports Academy is to support the individual progression of every athlete who walks through our doors. In Years 9 and 10, we focus on a more sport-specific model, while in Years 11 and 12, we move to a more individualized approach.
Ultimately, we want them to graduate with a high level of movement competency. That means mastering the ability to run, jump, land, hop, and develop strength and power across all domains of athletic performance. We want them to be great movers.
What’s the range of sports you work across at MSA?
We support around 22 different sports. About 14 of those have internal coaches here at the school, while the remaining athletes receive their coaching externally. Our athletes come from a wide range of sports—from gymnastics to soccer, hockey to taekwondo. It’s a huge variety, including both skill-based and field/court sports.
How is technology used in the program at MSA?
Technology plays a huge role here. For us, it’s not just a performance measure—it’s also an educational tool for student-athletes. It allows us to report performance metrics and support injury prevention.
Long-term athletic development depends heavily on education, and that’s where the technology reports are really helpful. We’re saturated with data these days, so the key is understanding which data to focus on and how to apply it meaningfully.
With so much information coming in, the challenge is simplifying it and using it in a practical way. It's not just about looking at numbers—we want to be able to draw insights from the data and implement them to support student-athletes effectively.
How has VueMotion helped with this process?
Since using VueMotion, we've gained the ability to go deep on three specific metrics: positive running, switching, and stiffness. You can make educated guesses by watching an athlete run, but VueMotion gives us concrete angles and metrics.
We’ve developed benchmarks, so we know where an athlete currently sits and where they should be working towards. And if they’re coming back from injury, we have historical benchmarks to compare against.
VueMotion has significantly influenced how we coach, especially from an educational standpoint. Rather than demonstrating live or improvising with drills, we can use video. We slow it down, analyze the kinograms, and highlight key angles and lines. It’s become one of our most valuable teaching tools—we display the videos on the big screen and troubleshoot movements with athletes before or after testing.
Do you find the students are more engaged when they can see video of themselves moving?
Absolutely. They're really excited to see the technology in action. Most adolescents are visual learners, so watching a video of themselves or their peers has far more impact than reading a report full of numbers.
Even something like running technique—which can be dry—becomes more engaging. It’s like serving broccoli to a toddler: not always appealing. But when we integrate it naturally into the program, without presenting it as a separate thing, the buy-in increases dramatically.
Can you give an example of an athlete you've worked with to improve movement using VueMotion?
Yes. I worked with a male AFL athlete in my squad who went through VueMotion testing at the beginning of the year. We identified some major deficiencies in his running. Given how important efficient running is in AFL, we built a specific 20-week intervention: one running technique session and one plyometric session per week.
The result? He improved by 0.91 seconds on his max velocity test. That’s a massive win, especially in a sport where every fraction of a second counts.
How frequently did you test that athlete?
We tested him twice over the 20-week period—once mid-way and once at the end. The first test revealed clear areas for improvement, which helped shape the programming. Without the objective data, we would have relied solely on visual observations.
Speaking of visual observations, do you still rely on the Coach’s Eye, or just the data—or both?
Definitely both. You’d never rely only on numbers. The Coach’s Eye is still crucial. I’d say the data is a complement to what you see in real time. Sometimes how a movement looks and feels can be very different from what the numbers say. I always want to be present, watching the athlete as well as reviewing their data.
Do you see further opportunities to improve that AFL athlete’s performance?
Yes, we have gold standard benchmarks for positive running, switching, and ankle stiffness. He’s made great progress but there’s still room to improve further.
What other sports have you used VueMotion with?
Even in non-field sports, running technique is essential—especially for youth athletes. For example, we worked with a Taekwondo athlete who showed improvement in his countermovement and drop jumps. That transferred directly into his performance, particularly his rate of force development.
Combat sports demand ankle stiffness and quick footwork. Teaching proper running technique—even if it’s not central to the sport—can still make a huge difference. Plus, many of these athletes use running for conditioning, so it’s still a valuable skill.
Has access to this data changed the way you coach?
It hasn’t changed how I coach, but it reinforces why I coach the way I do. It gives me greater conviction and enhances athlete buy-in. It supports and strengthens the rationale behind my programming.
Today you tested a squad of around 40 athletes. Talk us through the process.
Using VueMotion is incredibly efficient. It’s really just about setting up the correct distance and positioning the phone. That’s it. As a coach, that’s a dream—no light gates to align, no tech glitches to troubleshoot. It’s especially helpful with large squads.
Have you used VueMotion for injury prevention?
Yes. Last year we had an athletics student whose left leg showed lower switching ability compared to the right. Combined with his flexibility screen and history of left hamstring issues, we identified anterior tightness in his left hip as a contributing factor.
VueMotion confirmed what we were already seeing with the Coach’s Eye and helped inform targeted interventions.
You mentioned commonalities in athlete testing. Can you explain further?
Across the cohort, we consistently saw two things: low ankle stiffness and poor understanding of how to get into a positive running position. Once we saw this, we built those elements into the program—a weekly running technique session and a weekly plyometric session throughout the year. It made a huge difference.
Would you have picked that up without testing?
Possibly—but it would’ve been harder to communicate clearly to the athletes. The kinograms and videos help us show what good running looks like. That visual, educational component is incredibly powerful.