R1 is short for Ready First. R1 Ready First was built by a team with decades of experience at the highest levels of sport – and, just as importantly, as parents of young athletes. What made them special in elite sport was how they simplified the complex. The same thing that now makes them your solution for helping your child's well-being develop at their pace, specific to their needs and daily demands.
Matt has spent 25+ years as a performance specialist across 30+ sports, helping build the strength, conditioning, and recovery systems behind more than 40 Olympic and World Championship medal performances. His research on movement is the foundation of R1’s Body pillar.
He’s also the author of The Art of Ready, the book on athlete readiness that R1 is built from. As a sport parent, he started R1 because he wanted his own kids to have access to the same support he’d spent his career giving elite athletes.
Brian is a former Olympic Team Member (U.S. Water Polo) and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant who helped support a 2024 Olympic bronze medal performance. He designed R1’s approach to mental readiness – the tools that help kids build confidence and handle pressure. As a sport parent, he uses the same skills at home that he’s built for Olympians.
Richard is a New Zealander, a sleep scientist and dietitian with 20 years in elite sport, including sport nutrition with New Zealand All Black teams and leadership roles with the Singapore Sport Institute and the Saudi Arabian Olympic Training Center. He is now enjoying a second career, training as a medical doctor. He built R1’s Energy pillar – the sleep, nutrition, and recovery guidance that helps young athletes sustain their sport over time. The routines in R1 are the same ones he uses with his own daughters.
Alexandra is a physician who is dual board-certified in Pediatrics and Sports Medicine, with clinical experience across NCAA Division I programs and professional teams including the Lakers, Dodgers, and Sparks. She advises R1 on injury prevention and safe, healthy development for young athletes.
Dr. Abbott does not provide clinical care in partnership with R1. Her advisory role is independent of any clinical practice or institutional affiliation.
All of us have been approached over the years by parents – not just sport parents – asking what they could do to help their son or daughter thrive more in life. They would ask, how do I help my child become more capable, so they become more confident? That question, asked again and again, became one of the biggest motivators behind R1.
Sport is just one part of a kid’s life – recreational, instrumental, or competitive – but the skills that help a child thrive rarely get the sustained support that would make them last. At the same time, both coaches and parents are under more pressure than ever. That’s why R1 brings Mind, Body, and Energy together in one place: kids don’t develop in silos, and lasting readiness only comes when all three are supported at once.
This matters more today than ever. Kids face new pressures on their confidence and capability – social media and constant comparison chip away at their Mind, everyday play has given way to far less natural movement, weakening their Body, and a confusing food environment makes it harder to know what’s actually good for their Energy. R1 reduces the noise and gives you a clear signal that helps organize a child’s life – because no single piece works in isolation, and that integration is what truly sets kids up for life.
See what this team built, and give your child the same support they spent their careers giving Olympians.
