![\"Will](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/UCC-Will-Maher-Nick-Kyrigos-1200x800.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
High-performance lead Will Maher brings two decades of elite sporting experience to his new role with the UC Capitals. Photo: Accelerate Physiotherapy.<\/p>\n
For two decades, Will Maher has been coaching sportspeople \u2014 including Nick Kyrgios \u2014 to meet exceptional potential, but his latest gig with the UC Capitals strikes a personal chord.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have two daughters aged 14 and 12,\u201d he says. \u201cI am grateful for the opportunity to be involved with women athletes of this calibre, and I\u2019ll be tapping into all the skills I have acquired over the past 20 years in this role with the Capitals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Director and Principal Physiotherapist at Accelerate Physiotherapy, Maher has taken on the role of Head of High Performance after more than a decade working with the Association of Tennis Professionals and the rugby community. UC Capitals coach Paul Goriss has brought him in to lead a team of high-performance partners and help take the squad to the next level.<\/p>\n
The team includes leading sports physician Dr Kylie Shaw, psychologist Sue Read and Gaby Mora, a nutritionist with the Women\u2019s National Basketball League.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh performance requires a holistic approach; ensuring the players are taken care of as human beings, on court and off,\u201d Maher says. \u201cWe know humans who are happy and looked after generally endure longer and respond better under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team has also launched a high-performance program with the Australian Academy of Sport (ACTAS), complemented by strength and conditioning at The Den \u2014 run by a team with major elite sporting credentials \u2014 and recovery sessions at Reset Strength & Sports Recovery Centre, a purpose-built facility featuring everything from a cryo plunge pool to infrared light therapy.<\/p>\n
Maher says it\u2019s a levelling out of the playing field.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople say there\u2019s a gap in women\u2019s sport. I prefer to think of it as an opportunity to bring women\u2019s sport up to the level it deserves,\u201d he says. \u201cThis kind of high-performance approach is common enough in elite sports, so it\u2019s about giving these talented sportswomen the best possible program, to put them on a level playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maher describes his roles as organising the puzzle pieces to complete this picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no point having all these amazing puzzle pieces if you can\u2019t put them together,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m here to assist Coach Goriss to ensure everything lines up. If something doesn\u2019t fit, we have a dynamic feedback loop for the players and the facilities to make changes, thanks to an amazing high-performance team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Capitals have an incredible blend of youth and experience, and an ability to come together for a common cause. They work hard, support each other and push each other. I\u2019m committed to getting the right processes in place to support that. Those processes over months build to habits, and those habits build to performance outcomes. It\u2019s really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s new executive general manager, Christy Collier-Hill, a former Capital herself and, more recently, head of the WNBL, says the addition of Maher is part of an exciting new era for the UC Capitals, and one she hopes will take them to new heights within the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to ensure that when we work with our athletes and identify areas where we need uplift, we have services lined up to support them. Will has been central to this. We haven\u2019t had a head of high performance to coordinate all the elements of the program, and that\u2019s been incredibly valuable,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be the most professional team in the WNBL, and part of that is retaining our athletes and coaches moving forward, ensuring those playing with us this year want to be there next year. So we\u2019re putting in place the best structure possible to achieve that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, the feedback from the team has been super positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Capitals are just a couple of weeks from the first game of the season \u2014 an away game against the Southside Flyers, for which organisers are shooting for a record crowd of 8000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the first game of the entire WNBL season and we\u2019re pleased to be a part of it,\u201d Collier-Hill says. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting times.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UC Capitals<\/a>\u2018 first home game is on 25 October at AIS Arena. Book through Ticketek<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High-performance lead Will Maher brings two decades of elite sporting experience to his new role with the UC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-199778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}