You Play Sport,

We Do The Rest.

Pivot Sports Performance is a team of High Performance Coaches and Sports Physiotherapists turning promising sporting talent into well-rounded elite athletes.

Pivot Sports Performance is an amalgamation of two like minded Sports Performance & Rehab Facilities in Melbourne's North-North-Eastern suburbs: Strength Systems & Eastern Health & Performance. Together, the two founders Juy & Yianni, shared a vision:

We honour athletes. They are everything we love and do. We aim to provide industry leading expertise and innovation to our Athletic Community. This community is inclusive and welcomes all walks of life. We will achieve this by providing practical value through the most up to date, leading methods of rehabilitation and performance (drives ongoing education), as well as by fostering true human connection through humility, empathy, and curiosity.

We appreciate this is finite, and as our athlete’s needs grow and change, we will be there to grow together and serve them. This will not only improve our athlete’s on field enjoyment, but also improve their enjoyment in life through their newfound confidence, sense of purpose and sense of community.

Together, we can build athletes who are resilient to change.

Together, we can build athletes that aim for big, bold and seemingly unachievable feets.

Together, we can build athletes who look back on their careers with fondness and who continue to love sport long into retirement.

”Providing athletes all the resources they need to enjoy sport.”

How we do it.

We take our extensive experience within sub-elite & elite sport, such as the Richmond Football Club, Carlton Football Club, Cricket Victoria, Sydney Blue Sox Baseball, Sydney Rays Rugby, Gymnastics NSW, Australian Dodgeball Federation, Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Rebels, to optimise our performance and rehab programs accordingly.

Simply put - we help our athletes develop the essential foundations required to maximise their sporting performance.

Our philosophy is based around building robust and resilient athletes with enhanced movement efficiency. This is achieved by closely supervised small group sessions lead by knowledgeable and caring performance coaches and physios, who target all performance parameters with careful monitoring of training load and external stresses.

We Have Been Trusted By

Juy Lumsden

Masters of Sport & Exercise Physiotherapy / High Performance Sport (c)

Masters of Physiotherapy

Bachelor of Science (Human Structure and Function)

ASCA Coach Level 2

Juy uses a multidisciplinary approach to coach and program his athletes. He combines his skills in physiotherapy, strength and conditioning, biomechanics, motor control and sports coaching to give his athletes a competitive edge when returning to sport.

Juy has worked extensively in professional sport: currently, he is the AFLW Rehab & Return To Play Coordinator at Western Bulldogs FC. He has also worked as the AFLW Rehab Physio at Richmond Football Club, match day physio for The Sydney Blue Sox Baseball, Head of Medical at The Australian Dodgeball Federation, and game day coverage for Sydney Rays Rugby, NSW Gymnastics, Victorian Gymnastics and other community AFL teams.

Juy's interest in Concussion Care has led him to become one of only a dozen Concussion Clinician Physios in Victoria. He provides specialist consults on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Bundoora.

His main areas of interest are mid-late stage rehabilitation of lower limb injuries, ACL injuries and concussion management.

Out side of work, Juy is training for 2 Ultra Marathon races in 2024.

Yianni Griffiths

Bachelor of Health Science (Anatomy & Physiology)

Master of Physiotherapy Practice

ASCA Level 1

Specialising in all things athlete management. Yianni has obtained a post-graduate degree in physiotherapy, whilst also doing further studies into speed development, biomechanics and strength and conditioning.

Yianni’s experience is a combination of semi-professional work for both physiotherapy and strength and conditioning, managing teams through all phases of the year, whilst also having an abundance of experience within a clinical setting focusing on musculoskeletal presentations and returning them to play.

Yianni’s passion is returning athletes from injury at the peak of their athletic potential, and also helping manage them through all phases of their season. His key interest in speed development allows him to integrate key principles within the rehabilitation phases, helping athletes return faster than they were before.

Before merging Eastern Health & Performance with Strength Systems to co-found Pivot Sports Performance, Yianni became the head physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach at Vermont F.C, helping them through a top of the table finish in the 2023 season, and continuing on for the year 2024.

Yianni has a key interest in boxing and is hoping to prepare for a competitive fight at some stage

Beth Dowling

Master of Strength & Conditioning

Bachelor of Exercise Science

Beth is a Strength and Conditioning Coach with interests of return to performance and youth athletic development.

During the completion of her Masters’ Degree, Beth found a passion for high performance sport. Through her internship at the Melbourne Rebels, she went on to become the Strength and Conditioning coach for the Melbourne Rebels Super W program. Currently she is working in the VFL with Coburg FC as an S&C coach with a focus of rehabilitation and return to performance.

Beth has also had experience in facilitating and conducting performance testing with a range of different sports including Racing Victoria, VNL, AFL draft and Melbourne Rebels Academy.

She’s a netballer and is currently rehabbing an ACL injury with the goal to be back playing next year and running her first marathon.

Cat Hoh

Master of Exercise Physiology

Bachelor of Exercise Science

Cat brings a wealth of diverse experiences in the strength and conditioning field, ranging from recreational to elite, with particular expertise in endurance sports, gymnastics, and swimming.

Currently serving as a S&C coach, Cat has played crucial roles in designing, coordinating, and implementing comprehensive training programs for athletes. Previous impactful positions include serving as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Casey Demons Football Club (VFLW), Collingwood All-Stars Basketball, Methodist Ladies College Gymnastics, and in a multifaceted role at Doncaster Sharks Football Club (EFL).

Grounded in a solid educational foundation, including a Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology from the Australian Catholic University and a Bachelor's Degree in Exercise and Sports Science from Deakin University, Cat is dedicated to continuous learning. Their journey as a Student Exercise Physiologist at Donvale Rehabilitation Hospital, Australian Catholic University ELC, and the Australian Prostate Centre, along with a Senior Internship at RISE High Performance, underscores their commitment to staying at the forefront of their field.

Driven by a passion for enhancing athletic performance and igniting athletic relentlessness, Cat brings a wealth of knowledge, dedication, and a collaborative spirit to any team or athlete seeking to elevate themselves.

Olivia Ritchie

Bachelor of Science (Physiotherapy)

ASCA Level 1

Olivia is originally from Scotland and qualified as a Physiotherapist in 2019 at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Since qualifying, she has predominantly worked within private musculoskeletal & sports clinics. Olivia’s passion is working in a sporting environment and with team sports. She has worked mostly in rugby union with the Scottish Rugby Academy and at semi-professional level. She traveled to Spain and Croatia with the women’s Scottish Hockey Team and provided support to the men’s Canadian Hockey Team whilst they competed in Scotland. Along side this, she also has experience working with semi-professional soccer. Additionally, Olivia covered the AFL European Cup which was hosted in Edinburgh.

She has recently joined our team as a rehab coach and will be working with Banyule FC.

Olivia completed a mat-work Pilates qualification and taught Pilates classes whilst working in Scotland. She also likes to attend reformer/mat-work classes, as well as competing in Triathlons.

Jordon Smith

Bachelor of Applied Science & Bachelor of Osteopathic Medicine

Jordon is an Osteopath with a keen interest in exercise rehabilitation and strength & conditioning.

He has worked in a variety of roles such as osteopathic clinics, performance coaching with the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and managing performance rehab departments at performance facilities. He also currently works as the Head of Rehab for Banyule Football Club Women's team.

He is passionate about creating a welcoming and supportive training environment for all individuals.

Jordon's keen interests are strength training, shoulder injuries, ACL rehab and field based sports.

Outside of work, Jordon has a background in competitive powerlifting and is currently venturing into Olympic lifting.

Rhys De Highden

Bachelor of Kinesiology

Rhys is an ASCA L2 & CSCS certified Strength & Conditioning Coach who concurrently works at Essendon FC (VFL). He has experience in High School, Collegiate, and Special Olympian populations.

Rhys is driven by human performance within the sports realm while assisting athletes in obtaining and realising their maximum potential.

Rhys has previously played college baseball for Jessup University (USA) and understands the physical and mental demands of being an elite performer on and off the field.

Rhys combines his experience playing baseball and passion for athletic performance to deliver the highest quality power hitting, throwing & bowling programs for his field athletes, whilst also drawing on his first hand knowledge of AFL systems for his local and VFL footballers.