Today we have the honor of interviewing Rick Cost the director of high performance at Olympique Lyonnais (Ligue 1), a leading European soccer team.

Here is a picture of the Olympique Lyonnais squad:

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: During the interview with Rick Cost, we discussed his professional journey and the key experiences that shaped his path into high performance and ultimately led him to his current role as Director of High Performance at Olympique Lyonnais. We explored how he defines his role, his leadership philosophy, and the core principles guiding how he structures and develops his department.

Rick also shared his perspective on the differences between the U.S. and European approaches to sports performance, athlete management, and innovation. We then delved into his strategies for balancing training loads, recovery, and injury prevention throughout a demanding season. Finally, we spoke about the future of high performance — including the role of AI, data, and biomarkers in shaping the next generation of athlete development and performance management in football.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Rick located at the top of this blog post.

Here are the quotes from the interview with Rick:

1. Background & Path

“I’ve been in top sport for over 25 years now, and interestingly, I didn’t start in football. My journey began in Olympic sports like handball and field hockey. I studied physical therapy and human movement science, ran my own practice, managed a couple of gyms, and even advised national teams on high-performance structures. That broad exposure helped me understand performance from every possible angle.”

“When I finally moved into football in the early 2000s, it was a big achievement — football was still quite closed to outsiders then. But I brought something new to the table: I’d already been a physical therapist, a sport scientist, a strength coach, and even worked in analytics before analytics was a thing in sport. I touched every element of performance, and that gave me the perspective to later oversee entire departments.”

“The biggest advantage I had — and still have — is being both a medical professional and a sports scientist. That combination is rare today. Most of the people from my generation in high-performance leadership share that dual background. We’re like dinosaurs in a way — the last generation that deeply understands both the medical and performance sides.”

“People sometimes ask why I left my own successful practice to join a club full time. The truth is, it was partly financial and partly passion. Olympic sports are incredible, but they don’t pay. I had a child, I was working from 6:30 in the morning to 11 at night, and traveling constantly. Football offered stability and the ability to do what I loved full time, surrounded by the intensity and emotion of the game.”

“When I joined Feyenoord, I remember walking into the stadium and feeling the power of the supporters — it was life-changing. Once you experience that atmosphere, that passion, it sticks with you forever.”

2. Role & Philosophy

“At Olympique Lyonnais, I oversee the entire support structure — sports science, medical, strength and conditioning, research, analytics, nutrition, and psychology. My role is not to dictate, but to structure, align, and develop.”

“I always start by giving people purpose. Every staff member needs clear roles, clear responsibilities, and a developmental pathway. Without that, you don’t have a performance culture — you just have individuals working next to each other.”

“When I arrived, I did a maturity assessment of the environment. We were at stage two — good practices, but not yet repeatable. My mission is to move us through the stages of maturity until we reach level five, where everything becomes autonomous — where the system continuously improves itself in real time.”

“The key is building systems that are repeatable but flexible. We’re developing standard operating procedures, but I also believe in giving practitioners autonomy. In France, especially, you have to respect the culture — if you try to impose a strict model without room for individual color, you’ll hit a wall. In the U.S., you can be more standardized; in Europe, you need to lead through collaboration.”

“Leadership, for me, is about asking the right questions. I’ll never tell someone, ‘Do it this way.’ Instead, I’ll say, ‘Our goal is to build the best recovery system in France — how are you going to achieve it?’ Then I support them, challenge them, and make sure they have the resources to deliver.”

“I’m also responsible for budget strategy, innovation funding, and hiring. One of my biggest priorities is internal promotion — creating pathways so that people from the academy or support teams can move up when they’re ready. Consistency in culture starts with developing your own people.”

“Ultimately, my job is to take care of people — so they can take care of the players and each other. If we get that right, performance follows.”

3. US vs. Europe

“The biggest difference between the U.S. and Europe is how innovation is adopted. In Europe, implementation is evidence-driven. Clubs won’t integrate a technology unless there’s solid research and proven impact. In the U.S., the mentality is much more: ‘Let’s try it, see what happens, and refine later.’”

“When we went to the World Cup, we had infrared light beds, dry floating beds, cryo chambers — all sorts of recovery tools. We didn’t even know which ones worked best yet, but in the U.S., that didn’t matter. Players loved them. They believed that if something gave them even a one percent edge, it was worth it.”

“In Europe, you’d never get away with that approach. If it’s not backed by data or peer-reviewed research, it won’t be implemented. You need to show scientific proof — not just belief.”

“That difference also reflects cultural mindsets. In America, there’s a comfort with trial and error — if something fails, you move on and learn. In Europe, people are more conservative, more risk-averse. Both systems have strengths: the U.S. is more innovative, Europe is more consistent and structured.”

“The ideal world is somewhere in between — Europe becoming a little more open to experimentation, and the U.S. becoming a bit more critical in asking, ‘Does this actually solve a problem?’ If we can find that middle ground, that’s where high performance truly evolves.”

4. Training & Rehabilitation

“Managing training loads, recovery, and injury prevention is one of the hardest parts of the job — especially now with shorter preseasons and more congested schedules.”

“The core principle is adaptation — if you can adapt to specific intensities and volumes, you’ll be prepared for the demands of the season. But because preseasons are shorter now — sometimes only five weeks instead of eight — full adaptation is nearly impossible. That’s why recovery and freshness have become equally important.”

“We constantly balance adaptation and recovery. You can’t expect a player to perform 90 minutes every three days. Sometimes it’s 90-60-90-30 — that’s how you keep them in the sweet spot over a long season.”

“Recovery isn’t just physical — it’s mental, emotional, and physiological. You can do all the cryotherapy you want, but if a player’s emotionally drained, performance will drop. We have to manage all aspects of recovery to sustain elite performance.”

“There’s no perfect model. Things will go wrong, but the goal is to make informed decisions, to understand each player individually, and to continually improve. It’s critical thinking and constant adaptation.”

“We also explore new modalities — like vagus nerve stimulation, which targets the parasympathetic nervous system to improve stress recovery. It’s early, but technologies like these could become part of future recovery strategies.”

5. Talent Pool in France and the Quality of the Medical System and Sports Science

“I actually am very surprised about the level of the players that come from the academies (..) I think it is due to the individual quality of the medical system. In the sports science system, it is a very, very high level, and I think that is the case with all the clubs”.

“French people really love the game (..) They go to a club because they love the game (..) We don’t start with specializing too young, but I think we leave them in the clubs just long enough and then pick them up at an older age which is a great approach”.

6. Innovation & Future

“The biggest innovation of the past decade was GPS — it changed the way we quantified movement, workload, and intensity. The next wave will be about biomarkers — real-time, non-invasive data that tells us what’s happening inside the body.”

“Imagine a world where you don’t need to fill out questionnaires or draw blood. You just walk through a scanner at the training ground, and it instantly reads your fatigue, hydration, stress, and readiness. That’s the future — and it’s closer than we think.”

“AI will be the key to that future. It will help us analyze huge volumes of data and individualize training and recovery. Instead of generic load management, we’ll have player-specific algorithms that predict what each athlete needs to perform and stay healthy.”

“We’ve been measuring heart rate since the 1970s — but that’s just scratching the surface. The next frontier is understanding the biochemical and neural states of the player in real time. That’s when we’ll truly move from reactive to proactive performance management.”

“I think within a decade, we’ll have systems that use AI and biomarkers together to predict fatigue, optimize recovery, and maybe even prevent injuries before they happen. That’s the direction we’re heading.”

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Today we have the honor of interviewing Dave Lewanda, the Director of Baseball Applications at the Miami Marlins, an MLB team.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

Here is a picture of Dave on the field:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on Dave’s professional journey and what led him to become Director of Baseball Applications at the Miami Marlins, including the key experiences that shaped his path into sports technology. We explored how he approaches innovation in a tradition-rich sport like baseball and the ways his team bridges legacy systems with new, data-driven applications.

The conversation also delved into how he balances the needs of diverse stakeholders—from coaches and players to analysts and executives—when developing software tools for the organization. We discussed the broader sports technology landscape, where he sees the greatest opportunities for innovation, and how AI is already influencing workflows and decision-making. Finally, we looked ahead to his vision for the future of sports tech, including the growing roles of AI, automation, computer vision, and emerging technologies in shaping the next generation of baseball performance and operations.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Dave located at the top of this blog post.

Here are the quotes from the interview with Dave:

🧩 Q1. Background & Path

“I’ve been in technology, specifically software engineering, for over 20 years now. I grew up in central Connecticut, just outside of Hartford, and I’ve always had a deep interest in both technology and sports. I was never much of an athlete—I flamed out of Little League at 11 years old and only played golf casually—but I was always fascinated by how technology could intersect with sport.”

“I studied computer engineering at Lehigh University, where I earned both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. From there, I started my career working for a Department of Defense contractor, then moved into television broadcast technology, and later into consumer electronics at companies like Samsung.”

“My transition into sports came when I joined Major League Baseball’s New York office, working on the consumer-facing MLB app. That was really a defining moment for me—getting to merge my engineering background with my lifelong love of baseball. As Director of Software Engineering for MLB, I led the team responsible for the MLB app on Apple platforms, working closely with Apple to bring fans scores, videos, and live updates.”

“After five and a half years there, I joined Diamond Kinetics, a sports tech startup out of Pittsburgh that focused on baseball and softball training technology. That experience gave me a deeper appreciation for how data, analytics, and hardware can come together to help athletes at every level.”

“And now, joining the Miami Marlins has been incredibly exciting. We’ve just wrapped up a really successful season—17 more wins than last year—and we’re pushing hard to integrate analytics and technology to help the team put the best possible product on the field. I feel like I’ve come full circle—bringing my tech experience directly to where it can make a difference in competition.”

⚙️ Q2. Innovation in Baseball

“I’ve always been a fan of Moneyball—and I like to say I read the book before it was a movie. Baseball has always attracted the ‘stat nerds’ because it’s so state-driven. There’s no clock, and so many small, variable events determine the outcome. It’s the perfect sport for data because there are so many permutations and little moments that matter.”

“In other sports, you can give the ball to Patrick Mahomes or LeBron James and know they can directly influence the game. Baseball isn’t like that. You can’t control every play, and that unpredictability is what makes analytics and modeling so critical. There’s so much information that can give you an edge.”

“Our role in the Baseball Applications team is to leverage all of that data—from player tracking to scouting reports—and figure out how to present it in a meaningful way for each user. That could be the front office trying to decide who to draft or trade for, or the coaching staff trying to help a player improve today.”

“We see our mission as enabling the organization to ‘get better players and get players better,’ as our President of Baseball Operations puts it. And that means replacing applications that bridge the legacy systems our team has relied on for years with new, more dynamic technologies that support real-time analysis and decision-making.”

🧰 Q3. App Development & Workflow

“Before this role, I spent most of my career building products for mass consumption—where your goal is to grow revenue, maximize daily active users, and analyze usage data at scale. At MLB, for instance, the app had millions of active users during the season.”

“With the Marlins, I’m now building tools for maybe a few dozen people—coaches, analysts, scouts, and front office staff. That’s an entirely different kind of challenge. The impact is smaller in numbers, but much greater in depth. I can meet directly with users, understand exactly what they need, and design tools that are essential to their jobs.”

“For me, earning their trust is everything. They need to believe that the tools we create will help them, not slow them down. I often say I want our apps to be like power steering or anti-lock brakes—technology that enhances performance so seamlessly that people don’t have to think about it. When they need to make a quick decision, they can rely on the tool without hesitation.”

“The other big advantage we have is the opportunity to build something fresh. Unlike other teams who’ve been layering on technology for years and have to deal with technical debt, we get to start with a clean slate. We have an older system that we’re keeping on life support while we build its replacement, and that’s a dream scenario for any software engineer—creating a modern, purpose-built system that truly fits our users.”

“And because many people on our team have worked in other organizations—both inside and outside of baseball—we can learn from what’s worked elsewhere and avoid repeating past mistakes. That’s been a huge benefit in shaping our roadmap.”

🚀 Q4. Sports Tech Landscape

“The biggest opportunity in sports tech right now? Efficiency and intelligence. Every team, at this point, must be thinking about AI. For us, as a small engineering team of four going to maybe six, we’ll never be a 30-person department—so we have to think like a startup. That means using AI tools like GitHub Copilot and OpenAI’s Codex to speed up our development and make better use of our time.”

“But beyond coding, large language models open a whole new world for summarizing data. Think about scouting reports: a player might have hundreds of reports from different scouts, all slightly different. LLMs can synthesize those into key themes, trends, and summaries instantly. That’s incredibly powerful for analysts and executives who need to make fast, informed decisions.”

“We’re still early in that process—I like to say we’re crawling, not walking yet—but ignoring AI would be a huge mistake. It’s clearly here to stay. While there’s a lot of hype around it, there’s also real substance. AI isn’t going away. It’s going to become part of the foundation of how every sports organization operates.”

🌐 Q5. Vision & Future

“When I was at MLB, I saw firsthand how quickly the technology advanced. Back in 2017, the motion tracking systems in ballparks had a resolution roughly the size of a watermelon. By the time I left in 2022, that resolution had improved to the size of an M&M. That’s multiple orders of magnitude more precise—and that level of precision completely changes what’s possible.”

“Computer vision, motion capture, and 3D modeling are transforming the sport. We can now analyze a player’s swing mechanics or pitching delivery frame by frame, compare performance over time, and even detect subtle changes—like a player’s hand position—when things are going well versus when they’re not.”

“Injury prevention is another huge area. If you can track fatigue, stress, or workload in real time, you can potentially prevent injuries before they happen. Every team would love to avoid losing a pitcher for 12 to 24 months to Tommy John surgery. There’s a massive opportunity for AI, wearables, and predictive modeling to work together there.”

“And automation is coming, too. We’re already seeing AI-controlled cameras in some minor league parks that can follow plays automatically, replacing some of the traditional camera operations. There are even companies developing AI-generated audio commentary and summaries. We’re not looking to replace people, but the efficiency gains are real and significant.”

“Ultimately, I see a future where all these technologies—AI, computer vision, mixed reality, even quantum computing—work together to help us make faster, smarter, and more data-driven decisions across every part of the organization. The teams that embrace that now will be the ones who thrive in the coming years.”

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This week we had the honor to interview a group of ATP sports performance experts in pro tennis.

* Al Murphy, senior S&C coach at Tennis Australia. Al works with tennis players such as Rinky Hijikata, Emerson Jones and Aleks Vukic. He is also the head of sports science at Tennis Australia.

* Zack Evenden, an experienced performance coach. Zack has worked with top tennis players like Frances Tiafoe, and Michael Mmoh.

* Dirk Spits, the National Physical Performance Manager at Tennis Australia. Dirk works with pro tennis players such as James Duckworth, and Ajla Tomljanovic.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on the following topics:

* Q1. Women’s Tennis & Gender-Specific ResearchAre we seeing more tailored training, recovery, and injury-prevention approaches for women athletes, and where is the research still lacking?

* Q2. Longevity & Aging AthletesWith players competing effectively into their late 30s and even 40s, what adjustments in training load, recovery, and nutrition are proving most impactful for extending careers?

* Q3. Travel, Jet Lag & Scheduling

Given the relentless global calendar, how are teams using sleep science, circadian rhythm tools, or wearable data to minimize the impact of jet lag and travel fatigue on performance?

Here are some of the best quotes of our conversation with them:

Q1. Women’s Tennis & Gender-Specific Research

Al Murphy:

“From the research perspective, absolutely there are still big gaps in the literature—not just in tennis, but in sport and exercise science in general. We always try, where possible, to include both genders in studies or at least factor gender differences into the analysis, because we work across the full athlete pathway. But the differences between men’s and women’s tennis are very real, both technically and physically. The women’s game is generally faster through the court with lower trajectories, which changes movement patterns and means female athletes often have less time to react. That has a knock-on effect on the strength and power training they need. Add to that a generally lower relative strength profile compared to men, and you get athletes who manage forces differently in both movement and technique. So we’re constantly adjusting training, recovery, and injury-prevention work to match those realities, but the research base is still catching up.”

Dirk Spits:

“I think education amongst coaches is one of the most important factors here. How we train female athletes isn’t just about sets and reps—it’s about communication style, motivation, body image, and confidence. Menstrual cycle considerations and RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) are crucial topics, but there are also cultural and behavioral barriers, like misconceptions around strength training. Some female players still worry about looking too muscular if they lift weights, so part of our job is breaking down those myths. At the same time, you can’t just assume every female athlete has the same limitations—you have to treat each athlete as an individual, with a proper needs analysis that considers age, training history, lifestyle, and psychology. I’ve worked with female athletes who are more resilient and recover faster than many male players, so the key is individualization, not blanket assumptions.”

Zack Evenden:

“From my experience working with female players, everyone really is different—some can be pushed harder, others can’t, and a lot of the time you run into beliefs that athletes hold onto which block their progress. For example, I’ve had female players tell me flat out, ‘That’s not for me,’ even when I could see it would help their game. They want programs tailored specifically to them, but on tour not everyone can afford a full-time trainer or custom support. That creates a gap, because players know they need something individual but don’t always have the resources. So you get this tension between what they want, what they believe, and what’s actually possible within their circumstances.”

Q2. Longevity & Aging Athletes

Dirk Spits:

“For me, the biggest shift with aging athletes is training smarter, not harder. That doesn’t mean they don’t train hard—it means the focus is on quality over quantity. With older players, my priority is intensity rather than volume, and I never do consecutive days with multiple hard sessions. The goal is to keep them available to train and compete, rather than chasing performance metrics that might break them down. We don’t call it ‘injury prevention’ anymore, because you can’t prevent injuries. We call it body management—daily habits that maintain mobility, recovery, and readiness. If you’ve had a long-haul flight, then your body management focus that day is mobility. If you’ve had a tough match, then it’s about recovery. That mindset is key for keeping older athletes competing into their late 30s and 40s.”

Al Murphy:

“I’ve become a huge believer in joint health and functional range conditioning, especially with older players. Tennis changes an athlete’s joints over time—bone structures adapt, ranges of motion narrow, and strength through certain positions declines. If we don’t address those changes, they eventually limit careers. So I focus on helping athletes know exactly what their joints can and can’t handle, and how to maintain strength through ranges of motion that matter for tennis. The internal strength models and isometric profiling tools we now use let us be very specific about what kind of stimulus we’re giving the body. With older players, volume is always the enemy, so you have to be precise about what adaptation you’re targeting. Honestly, I wish I’d known this earlier in my career, because if we started addressing these issues at junior level, many athletes could extend their careers by years.”

Zack Evenden:

“From my experience, one of the biggest adjustments older players make is with diet and recovery routines. I’ve seen athletes completely change their diets—going gluten-free, plant-based, or anti-inflammatory—because they believe it helps them recover and stay healthier. A lot of that is mental, but mental buy-in is half the battle anyway. Federer is the perfect example—when we played him in Basel, we barely saw him hit balls in practice. He lived on the physio table, making sure his body felt right. For him, training wasn’t about more reps, it was about arriving in perfect condition when it was time to perform. Other players like Nadal adjust by mixing in elliptical or cross-trainer sessions instead of pounding their knees with runs. And soft tissue work has become huge. Older players survive because they’re willing to change how they train, recover, and even eat, while also having the discipline to stick to those changes.”

Q3. Travel, Jet Lag & Scheduling

Zack Evenden:

“Every player handles the global travel grind differently. Some players prioritize sleep, others prioritize getting on court right away, and some build detailed travel routines with mobility sessions and workouts after they land. But the truth is, you have to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. There’s no luxury of saying, ‘I had a bad night’s sleep, so I won’t play well tomorrow.’ Matches don’t wait for you. I’ve worked with players who believe they need 10–11 hours of sleep or else their day is ruined—but that’s unrealistic on tour. The players who last are the ones who figure out how to perform when conditions aren’t perfect. You don’t get a pass for jet lag. You don’t get a pass for a noisy hotel. You have to turn up and compete.”

Al Murphy:

“Jet lag and recovery are huge challenges in tennis, especially for Australians traveling to Europe or the U.S., where the time zones are basically opposite. For older players, the flights take more out of them, even though they know how to handle travel better than young players. What we try to do is prepare before the flight—using jet lag apps, adjusting sleep schedules ahead of time, planning when to sleep and when to stay awake on the plane—so that the circadian rhythm is already shifting before they land. Once they arrive, mobility and movement prep is vital so their body is ready before they go straight into heavy on-court work. Wearables can help, but it’s very individual—some players love the data, others get anxious if they see they didn’t get enough sleep. So again, it’s about finding what works for that player and using it consistently.”

Dirk Spits:

“Sleep hygiene is one of the most important tools we have. That means limiting screen time before bed, using blackout curtains, trying nutrition-based aids like tart cherry juice to boost natural melatonin, and building routines that help players wind down after late matches when adrenaline is still high. But at the end of the day, as I tell athletes, you don’t really have time to get jet lagged. The schedule doesn’t wait. So we build resilience by exposing players to a bit of adversity in training—getting used to competing when they don’t feel 100%. The key is combining good habits—hydration, mobility, nutrition—with mental toughness. Winning helps too—when you’re winning, fatigue and jet lag seem to matter less, but when you’re losing, those imperfections come to the surface very quickly.”

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This week we had the honor to interview a group of NCAA sports performance experts.

* Dr. John DeWitt, Director of applied sports science in the athletic department and a faculty member, Rice University (NCAA team).

* Paul Silvestri, Sr director of sports health and performance, University of Florida football (NCAA team).

* Drew Lukes, Senior PT at Duke University and the head of sports science, Duke university’s women soccer team (NCAA team).

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on:

Q1. Evaluating Technology Claims

* With so many vendors making bold claims about performance gains, recovery benefits, or injury reduction, how do NCAA programs separate real value from marketing hype?

Q2. NIL & Athlete Opportunities

* How is the NIL era reshaping the way student-athletes and universities think about recruiting, brand partnerships, and long-term athlete development?

Q3. Team Culture & Leadership

* In today’s environment of constant change and external pressures, what strategies are most effective in building and sustaining a strong, values-driven team culture across NCAA programs?

Q4. Adversity & Resilience

* What lessons have you seen athletes and teams learn from adversity—whether it’s injuries, setbacks, or off-field challenges—that can translate into both performance and life skills?

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview located at the top of this blog post.

You can leave a comment by clicking on the button below:

Here are some of the best quotes of our conversation with them:

Q1. Evaluating Technology Claims

John DeWitt:“One of the really cool things, but also one of the real problems today, is that technology vendors are being born weekly. A new tool is always coming out. That can be good, because data flows that used to take a long time are now accessible faster and more conveniently. But the real question is: what’s your current workflow, and what do you need that would actually help coaches and medical staff make better decisions? That’s where we separate value from hype. It doesn’t matter how cool something looks or how precise it claims to be—if it doesn’t fit into our workflow or slows us down, it’s not real value.”

“Improving workflow means either adding data we don’t already have, like nutrition, or making current processes faster. For example, motion capture in the lab is precise but takes hours and removes athletes from their natural environment. If a new system can give us kinematic data quickly, without slowing us down, that’s worth considering. If not, it’s hype.”

Paul Silvestri:“On the recovery and injury side, I almost demand proof. If you’re making bold claims about speeding recovery or reducing injuries, I want to see the research. A lot of companies sprout up, make flashy claims, but lack any scientific backing. Some things we use are anecdotal or even placebo-driven, but when you’re talking about athlete health, you need evidence. Otherwise, you risk redundancy and data overload—‘paralysis by analysis.’ That’s where programs can lose sight of what’s important.”

Drew Lukes:“For me, it starts with the end in mind. Does this technology solve a real problem we’re facing? If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t matter how impressive it looks. I also lean heavily on my network—people I trust who will tell me the truth, not the sales pitch. If they’ve tried it and can vouch for it, that’s worth more than marketing slides. And with schools like Florida or Duke, vendors are often eager to provide free trials just to have their product associated with our brand. That’s a great way to test if the tool actually delivers or if the claims fall flat.”

Q2. NIL & Athlete Opportunities

Paul Silvestri:“The NIL era has completely reshaped the landscape. The first question recruits ask now is, ‘How much are you going to pay me?’ Years ago, they cared about facilities, staff, and development. Now, money is front and center. That changes recruiting, roster management, and long-term development. On the medical side, we carry a huge responsibility: if we’re investing NIL dollars, we can’t afford to overlook major red flags. With transfer athletes, we can review medical histories more easily, but with high school athletes it’s tougher. Still, we do our best to flag potential issues—like cartilage problems that could derail a career in short order.”

“It’s not just about injuries either. Character matters more than ever. If an athlete is solely motivated by money, it rarely works long-term. They’re more likely to transfer at the first sign of a better deal, or to sit out for minor injuries because they don’t want to risk their ‘investment.’ Coaches now have to evaluate: is this athlete bought into our program’s culture, or are they just chasing a paycheck? That’s the reality of NIL. And as programs add roles like general managers, this whole process is going to keep evolving.”

Q3. Team Culture & Leadership

Drew Lukes:“Culture is a top-down process. It starts with the coaches casting a clear vision, but it also depends on the support staff being consistent. Athletes can’t hear one message from the coaching staff and another from medical or performance. Consistency is critical. For us, culture is also about boundaries—letting student-athletes know what’s expected and holding them accountable. That can be challenging in an athlete-driven NCAA environment, but without consistency, culture falls apart.”

John DeWitt:“I don’t define culture by winning or losing. If you say your culture is winning, then one loss means your culture is broken. True culture is about excellence. Excellence is controllable—how we prepare, how we treat people, how we work daily. Winning is the outcome of excellence, not the definition of it. If you focus culture on excellence, it sustains you through both victories and losses.”

Paul Silvestri:“The foundation of culture is having the right people in the room. If athletes only care about money, they won’t buy into the culture. They’ll transfer at the first chance. But when you recruit people who align with your values, culture is what keeps programs strong, even with all the external pressures of NIL and constant change.”

Q4. Adversity & Resilience

Paul Silvestri:“I tell athletes all the time: in a split second, you can go from feeling 100 percent to having your season lost. Don’t ever forget that feeling. When you’re out with an ACL or another long-term injury, use that pain, that hunger, to fuel your return. Adversity makes you stronger if you embrace it. But if you go into a shell, you lose the lesson. We hammer that into our athletes—don’t take being on the field for granted, because in a heartbeat it can be gone.”

“Even for us as staff, adversity is real. When the team isn’t winning, it’s easy to get discouraged. But I remind my staff: our job doesn’t change when the scoreboard isn’t in our favor. We still have to show up, provide the best care, and be the positive voice in the building. It’s harder during losing streaks, but that’s when it matters most.”

John DeWitt:“Resilience isn’t fixed—it’s learned. Athletes don’t come pre-packaged with grit; they develop it through setbacks. We have to help them see that failure is where growth happens. I’ve worked with NASA astronauts who trained thousands of hours, making countless mistakes, just for a three-hour spacewalk. That’s the mindset athletes need: failure in training is preparation, not a reflection of your ability. Resilience comes from practice, from falling short and learning, not from avoiding failure.”

“For me, culture is consistency. I don’t change my approach whether we’re winning or losing. Culture is about how we operate every day, not about the scoreboard. If you’re Real Madrid and you define culture as ‘winning,’ every single loss feels catastrophic. But if your culture is excellence, then you don’t lose it when results go against you—you sustain it, and that helps you bounce back.”

Drew Lukes:“Rehab is one of the hardest adversities a young athlete will face. These are 18- to 20-year-old kids, and for many, it’s the toughest thing they’ve ever gone through. My job is to give them perspective. I’ll tell them: take a snapshot on day three after surgery when you can’t even lift your leg. Six months later, when you’re frustrated you can’t score in practice, look back at that moment. Rehab is brutal, but it’s also a trial by fire. The athletes who embrace it come back stronger, hungrier, and often become the most inspiring leaders on the field.”

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Today we have the honor of interviewing Ted Munson, the sports nutritionist of Brentford fc, a Premier League club.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

Here is a picture of Ted on the field:

📝Show Notes: During the interview we discussed Ted’s journey into performance nutrition, where he focuses on player personalization, health, and rehab. He explained his approach of adapting guidelines to each athlete, periodizing nutrition to match training loads, and using behavior change to build buy-in. Ted highlighted tech like Hexis for GPS-linked fueling, DEXA scans, and MX3 hydration testing, and sees the future of nutrition moving toward deeper personalization, gut testing, and better products. If given unlimited resources, he would create an AI-driven athlete data platform and even a “robot chef” that teaches players to cook meals tailored to their needs.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Ted located at the top of this blog post.

Here are the quotes from the interview with Ted:

1. Tell me about your background

“I’ve been practicing in performance nutrition for just over 10 years now. I started out working in elite sport up north after completing my BSc and MSc in sport and exercise science, followed by a postgraduate diploma in sport and exercise nutrition to get on the British Dietetics Association’s Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register. That qualification allowed me to work in elite sport settings here in the UK. Early in my career, I was with Hull City Football Club as a sort of hybrid sports scientist and nutritionist, because back then very few Premier League clubs had dedicated nutritionists. Later, I joined Science in Sport (SIS), working across a broad spectrum of sports like cycling, rugby, and football, which really opened my eyes to different performance environments beyond team sports. About six or seven years ago, I launched my own consultancy, and that led to roles in the English Championship, Formula One, Premiership Rugby with Harlequins, and Luton Town Football Club. More recently, I’ve been with Brentford in the Premier League, now going into my fourth season, and also supported the Danish national team at Euro 2024 and in the Nations League. It’s been a pretty broad journey, but I’m really enjoying working in the Premier League at a club that’s so focused on development.”

2. What do you do as a sports nutritionist?

“When people outside of sport think of a nutritionist, they assume it’s just meal planning—but in reality, it’s far more comprehensive. My role as sports nutritionist is very broad and focuses heavily on player personalization. That means tailoring strategies both inside and outside the club, based on individual player goals. These goals might be physical, like gaining muscle mass or dropping body fat, or performance-based, like increasing high-speed running capacity or improving jump height to win more headers. Everything we do as performance nutritionists is linked back to performance on the pitch. But beyond that, a huge part of my job is keeping players healthy, because illness prevention is just as important as performance. We monitor body composition with tools like DEXA, hydration status, and blood work multiple times a year, looking at markers like CRP, antioxidants, and inflammation. Athletes, especially in the Premier League with so much travel, are prone to upper respiratory tract infections, and avoiding time lost to illness is crucial. Another area is rehab—we support injured players so that they come back faster, stronger, and better recovered. Shaving two or three weeks off a long-term injury is incredibly valuable at this level. On top of that, I work on acute fueling strategies around training and match days, supplementation, menu planning for hotels and travel, and coordination with consultants like psychologists and sleep specialists. It’s about so much more than menus—it’s about being part of a truly integrated multidisciplinary team.”

3. What is your approach towards nutritional strategies in elite sports?

“Early in my career, I made the mistake of sticking too rigidly to guidelines. Guidelines are useful as a starting point, but they’re not always practical in the real world. For example, guidelines might recommend more than 10 grams of carbohydrate per kilo of body mass the day before a match. For a 140-kilo rugby prop, that’s an enormous amount of food and often not realistic. What I’ve learned is that the key is always putting the player first—understanding who they are, what they’ve done before, and then slowly developing strategies that suit them. I also believe nutrition should be periodized just like training loads. We increase carbs on high training load days, especially with double sessions or gym work, and reduce them on lighter days. This improves energy levels and helps with body composition. One of the biggest evolutions in my approach over the last five years has been focusing on behavior change. You can have all the knowledge in the world and quote guidelines perfectly, but if you can’t get athletes to follow them, it’s meaningless. It’s about building trust, using behavior change models like COM-B, and understanding intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Nutrition isn’t just about telling players what to eat—it’s about meeting them where they are, building relationships, and creating buy-in so that changes actually stick.”

4. What are your preferred tech and why?

“I’ve always been cautious about technology in nutrition, because while tech can give us great information, it should never take away the conversation with the athlete. For me, technology should help us share information quickly, make decisions quickly, and educate—but it must fit into the workflow and support, not disrupt, those important relationships. A great example is Hexis, which I’m a huge fan of. It links fueling recommendations directly to a player’s GPS data, so it’s personalized in real-time based on what they’ve actually done, not on estimates or equations. That’s the level of personalization we need. Another area where tech has been really valuable is body composition—we’ve moved from skinfolds to DEXA scanning, which gives us much more detailed insights. I prefer focusing on muscle mass rather than body fat, and players respond really positively to that framing. Hydration testing is another example. We’ve been using MX3 saliva testing, and while I was skeptical at first, after comparing it against urine tests in-house, it’s proved accurate and much easier for players to buy into—because let’s be honest, no athlete enjoys peeing in a cup. These tools are fantastic for education and for turning data into meaningful actions, as long as they don’t replace the conversations we need to have with players.”

5. How do you see the future of nutrition in elite sports evolving in the coming years?

“I think the future is going to be about going even deeper into personalization. Personalization has been a buzzword for a few years, but now we’re finally getting the tools and resources to make it a reality—apps, more nutritional staff in clubs, and better integration with training data. Blood testing has already been a huge step, but I think gut testing will be the next frontier. We’re learning more about the gut-brain axis and how it influences performance, recovery, and even sleep. The challenge will be making data collection less invasive and more actionable. Another area is product innovation—highly concentrated carbohydrate shots, isotonic drinks, and recovery products that taste better are game changers because better taste means better adherence. On the research side, I think we’ll see more individualized guidelines for specific sports. FIFA’s nutritional guidelines are a good start, but we need follow-ups that are more sport-specific. It’s also encouraging to see more PhD students embedded in elite clubs, doing research directly on players. Over the next decade, I think we’ll see a convergence of better tech, better products, and better research, all making nutrition more personalized and practical for athletes.”

6. If you could build any tech and had unlimited resources, what would you build and why?

“If I could build anything, I’d probably build two things—one realistic and one a bit more fun. The realistic one would be an all-in-one data resource for a club. Right now, nutrition, S&C, GPS, and psychology data often sit in silos. I’d love a system where all of that is integrated, creating an AI-driven model of each athlete. That way, you could draw on all the data holistically and even ‘test’ interventions virtually on a digital twin of the athlete before applying them in real life. That’s a really powerful way AI could help us make better decisions. The more fun idea would be a robot chef—an AI-powered assistant that cooks meals tailored to what an athlete needs on any given day based on their workload. But here’s the twist: for it to work, the robot would have to teach the athlete the recipe, so they actually learn how to make it themselves. I don’t want to just serve food to athletes—I want to support them and help them build understanding. The risk with technology is that it can make people passive, so it has to be designed in a way that empowers learning and independence.”

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Today we have the honor of interviewing Clayton Green an experience human performance coach that worked in F1. He was at McLaren for 12 years with multiple times F1 champion Lewis Hamilton.

Clayton is a health, wellness, and performance specialist who spent over a decade with McLaren’s Formula One team, serving as their Human Performance Manager from about 2008 to 2020. During that time he was responsible for integrating mind, body, technology, and data to develop performance systems for both drivers and support staff—he also served as Lewis Hamilton’s performance coach during the 2010 season. After his tenure at McLaren he founded Ground + Air, where he continues to apply his expertise to optimize performance through lifestyle coaching, physical conditioning, and holistic methods drawing on both Eastern and Western science.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: During this interview, we discussed Clayton Green’s journey into human performance and how it led him to McLaren and working with Lewis Hamilton, what it was like operating inside one of the most iconic F1 teams and supporting a world champion, and the lessons he learned from that experience. We explored his approach to training and recovery for drivers facing unique physical and mental demands, the role of technology in monitoring and optimizing performance, and how the human side of F1 is evolving to keep up with the car’s cutting-edge innovation. Finally, Clayton shared his perspective on what separates the great drivers from the rest — and what makes Lewis Hamilton such a unique and exceptional competitor.

Here are the best quotes from the interview with Clayton:

Q1. Background & Path into F1

* “I’m classically trained as a sports scientist, and I really became fascinated with what was possible in terms of transforming the human body just through manipulating load, recovery, and environmental demands. After running my own personal training business for 10 years, I had a friend at McLaren who told me about an opening. Honestly, I had no real interest in motorsport — I thought it was just drivers sitting in a car moving the wheel a bit faster than everyone else. But I went to the interview, really liked McLaren, and from there the role just escalated quickly — first managing the fitness and wellbeing center, then working with pit crew, simulator drivers, and eventually, when Lewis Hamilton’s trainer stepped down, I interviewed and became his performance coach in 2010.”

Q2. Experience at McLaren

* “Walking into the McLaren Technology Center for the first time was a truly epic experience — it felt like something out of NASA or James Bond. Everything about the place was designed around precision and performance. The vision statement at the time was simply, ‘We exist to win,’ and that mindset was everywhere. Every decision was based on whether it helped the team win more often or more effectively. Working directly with Lewis was incredible because he was already a world champion, extremely focused, and very set in his habits. That was inspiring but also challenging, because when someone has already proven their methods lead to success, it can be difficult to convince them to change anything, even if you believe it might be for the better.”

Q3. Performance Training Philosophy

* “The F1 season is relentless. You get maybe six to eight weeks in pre-season where you can really push the driver in terms of strength and fitness. Once the season starts, though, time in the car essentially becomes the workout. At that point, the real focus is on how well you manage the demands of constant travel, recovery, and hydration so that the driver arrives fresh at every race. Drivers absolutely need to be strong and fit, but there’s also a performance ceiling. Being twice as strong as another driver doesn’t make you faster — it just risks injury or wastes energy on maintenance. The key is getting them to the level where they’re strong enough and fit enough, and then it’s all about offsetting fatigue so they can perform cognitively under pressure. We used to say driving was more of a cognitive task that was influenced by physical fatigue — the brain only works as well as the body supports it.”

Q4. Role of Technology

* “The car had hundreds of sensors monitoring everything in real time, but for the driver we were still fairly old school when I started. We would measure body mass before and after races to estimate fluid loss, and someone like Lewis could lose two or three kilos in a single race even while still wearing sweat-soaked overalls. We did push hard to integrate more technology in the simulator because it gave us control over conditions you couldn’t replicate on the track. We experimented with ECG and EEG sensors, EMG to measure muscle fatigue, neck loaders to simulate g-forces, even heating the drivers to mimic hot environments. The big question was always: can we correlate what we see in the body to what happens in lap time or cognitive performance? And ultimately, can we make changes in the driver that deliver a measurable return on investment in terms of performance for the team?”

Q5. The World of F1 Performance

* “In Formula One, no stone was left unturned when it came to measuring the car — sometimes to the point of drowning in too much data. But with the driver, it was almost the opposite. They were treated as a constant in the cockpit, expected to always deliver their best without being measured the same way. Going forward, the biggest opportunity is in wearable technology that’s light, unobtrusive, and capable of providing real insight into what a driver is going through in the heat of battle. Motorsport is unique because a driver can’t make the car go faster than physics allows, but they can definitely make it slower if they’re fatigued or dehydrated and start making micro-errors — braking a fraction too late, missing an apex, or hesitating in a reaction. Once those mistakes happen, you can never get that time back. So performance training is really about optimizing the driver so they can remain consistently accurate and sharp under extreme conditions.”

Q6. What Makes Lewis Hamilton Unique

* “Lewis’s standout skill was his adaptability. Cars in Formula One are constantly evolving — from one race to the next there are always updates, and it’s never exactly the same car you drove the previous weekend. Lewis had this exceptional ability to instantly feel those changes, understand them, and then communicate clearly with engineers, which isn’t easy since drivers speak in sensations and engineers speak in numbers. Beyond the skill, though, what really set him apart was his absolute focus and dedication. He demanded every ounce of performance not only from himself but also from the team and the car. That level of commitment could sometimes be interpreted as selfishness, but in reality, it raised the standards for everyone around him. He made sure that every single person involved was aligned on the singular goal of extracting the maximum performance and winning.”

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Today we have the honor of interviewing Matt Eller, CEO of Aris Training, a leading platform in sports technology.

Aris Training is a next-generation resistance training system designed to help athletes build strength, speed, and power through controlled, variable resistance. Unlike traditional weight-based methods, Arise leverages advanced technology to adjust resistance in real time, allowing practitioners to fine-tune load, monitor performance, and reduce injury risk. It’s used across elite sports to replicate sport-specific movements, track progress with precise data, and optimize both rehabilitation and performance training.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

Here is the picture of the Aris Training machine:

Picture: Aris Training

Here is a picture of Aris Training’s mobile app:

Here is a picture of athletes using Aris Training:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on his background, his company and product, the benefits for teams to use their product and platform. We also talked about his competitive advantage, business model, and his plans for the next 12 months.

Please note that Aris Training will be exhibiting at our 2025 Upside US Summit on October 21 at the Florida Panthers (NHL) stadium.

Here are the best quotes from the interview with Matt:

Q1. Tell me about background

“I’m a former basketball player, college basketball player at Lee McCrae College. After so many years in basketball, I was looking forward to a break, so I studied international business and had a chance to do some corporate sales within the food industry. I grew pretty fast and enjoyed it, but I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do forever. Being young, I thought, this is my time to get back into my passion. I started really studying performance and getting into data analytics, and it kind of put me on a trajectory here in this industry that I’m really excited about.”

Q2. How did you get the idea of launching your company?

“My business partner, Sam Wason, and I shared a lot of common interests when it came to performance. For me, when I was getting recruited in high school, I was a 6’4 shooting guard, and people told me I wasn’t big enough or quick enough to guard certain players—even though I could put my elbow in the rim. I didn’t understand where those problems were coming from, and there weren’t coaches or options to test and understand my performance. That opened my eyes to the idea that everybody’s got an elite athlete inside of them; they just need the right process to bring it out. Once I became a trainer and opened a facility, I saw how manual and labor-intensive it was to do performance analytics for every athlete. We thought, there’s gotta be a better way to scale this and automate it so athletes don’t lose personal attention while coaches can still grow and manage their business effectively.”

Q3. Tell me about your product

“At the center of our ecosystem is Aris Pro, our digital resistance trainer. It delivers 100 pounds of constant resistance, meaning whatever resistance you program is consistent through the entire motion, whether it’s 25 yards or 12 inches. Everything operates through the Aris app, which allows coaches to command training sessions, capture data, and have it all automated so they can focus on the athlete instead of spending time on manual data collection. We’ve seen great improvements in acceleration and athletes reaching peak power faster using our resistance method. And because it’s tied into a complete athlete management system, coaches can easily manage speed, change of direction, and power output data by athlete, team, or sport, and generate custom reports for whatever they need.”

Q4. How is your product unique?

“It’s really about simplicity. With Aris Pro, it’s one tool—you don’t need speed gates, sleds, and other equipment alongside it. Every motion is testing and training at the same time. We’ve also built unique features to make the coach’s and athlete’s experience smoother, like audio signals that beep when you cover 10 or 20 meters, and safety zones that stop athletes from bursting through the resistance line at the end of a rep. Those things make training safer, easier, and more precise. Our focus has been: how do we simplify and amplify the process? And that’s what sets us apart—we’re giving athletes and coaches an effective, all-in-one tool that just works.”

Q5. What gives you a competitive advantage?

“We pride ourselves on building a tool that can handle the highest level of athlete performance while staying simple to use. For example, with football, you’ve got 250–300 pound guys generating massive force. Many products struggle with that, but we’ve built a system that can withstand it. At the same time, we’ve integrated features like audio cues, safety zones, and automated data capture that support coaches as much as athletes. Every rep isn’t just training, it’s also testing, so they’re always collecting valuable data without having to add extra steps. That’s where we feel our advantage lies—building something powerful enough for elite athletes but easy enough that coaches can integrate seamlessly into training without losing time or accuracy.”

Q6. What are the benefits for teams?

“For teams, the biggest benefit is versatility. Coaches can create specific workouts for athletes, execute them, review the data, and make adjustments later. It gives them the ability to be in many places at once. Teams use it for activation before games, for testing, and especially for return-to-sport protocols. Having baseline data on an athlete’s peak performance makes it much easier to plan their comeback after an injury. We also designed it with accessories and processes for vertical jump, change of direction, and linear speed, so it’s not just one type of training—it’s a complete, flexible system that can integrate into any organization’s workflow without friction.”

Q7. What is your take on the resistance training market?

“Right now the resistance training market is complicated and fragmented. There are a lot of great, sophisticated products out there, but for most coaches, that’s not what they need day-to-day. Eighty percent of coaches and organizations really just want four or five key data points that they can work with and apply directly to training. The challenge is integration, setup, and usability—it’s often tough to get everything to work together smoothly. But resistance training is such a critical part of sports performance—every team needs sprinting data, power output data, and change-of-direction metrics. I think the market will keep growing, but more importantly, it will start to commercialize and become more accessible to athletes beyond just the top 1%. As innovation continues, coaches’ hunger for clear, actionable data will drive the market toward easier, more transparent solutions.”

Q8. What are your plans for the next 12 months?

“We’re currently raising capital for the release of our Version 2 system, which we plan to launch in 2026. Alongside that, we’re building machine learning and AI modules that help with velocity thresholds and personalized training to reduce the burden on coaches and adapt training to individual athletes. But what we’re most excited about is the launch of Aris Suite, which includes our Aris Flight vertical jump tester with LIDAR sensors—like a modernized version of a Vertec plate—and our Aris Speed gates. These tools will integrate seamlessly into the Aris platform, so all the training and testing data is centralized in one place. It allows teams to test more athletes faster, with athletes even able to do it more self-sufficiently, while coaches still get accurate, actionable data without losing time.”

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This week we have the honor to interview again a group of sports performance executives to talk about the latest trends in the world of sports performance and rehabilitation.

* Jason Han, the former head of rehabilitation at LAFC (MLS). Jason is also the head of business development in North America at OneBase health.

* Michael Messer, the head of rehabilitation, Nashville SC (MLS).

* Tyler Harris, the director of sports medicine, St Louis CITY SC (MLS).

* Darcy Norman, the director of performance, Chicago Fire FC (MLS).

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on:

* Team Culture & Cohesion“How are MLS teams evolving their approaches to building strong locker room culture—especially with diverse international rosters—and what practices have you seen work best to maintain unity throughout a long season?”

* Leadership Development“What strategies are being used to develop leadership skills not just in captains or veterans, but across the roster so younger players also step into leadership roles?”

* Dealing with Adversity“Adversity—whether it’s losing streaks, high-pressure games, or off-field distractions—comes with the territory. How do MLS teams build mental resilience and help players bounce back quickly?”

* Performance Tech & Vagus Nerve Stimulation: “One of the latest trends in performance technology is the use of vagus nerve stimulators to help reduce anxiety, regulate HRV and blood pressure, and improve sleep. What are your thoughts on this technology, and how do you see it being applicable or valuable within MLS environments?”

* Generative AI & Team Strategy“Generative AI (Open AI, Google Gemini.. is starting to impact clubs across many areas—operations, marketing, player performance, injury reduction, even fan engagement and customer service. Has your club begun implementing a Gen AI strategy, and where do you see the biggest opportunities or challenges for MLS teams?”

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview located at the top of this blog post.

You can leave a comment by clicking on the button below:

Here are some of the best quotes of our conversation with Michael, Tyler, Darcy, and Jason:

Q1. Team Culture & Cohesion

“It really starts with having a clear vision of the club from the top down—with clear missions across departments and values that everyone has agreed upon. When people at every level know the standards, they can hold each other accountable and live by those values, not just talk about them. The clubs I’ve seen stay strong over time aren’t the ones built around one star or one season; they’re the ones that build an ethos that survives player turnover, staff changes, and the natural ups and downs of results. Culture is only real if it’s sustainable, and that comes from clarity, consistency, and accountability.” – Darcy Norman

“A team, at the end of the day, is like a business—you need systems in place to make sure people are aligned and onboarded quickly. That applies whether it’s a star signing arriving midseason or a role player joining the roster. At LAFC, for example, there were times when the medical staff was overwhelmed with injuries and new players were coming in, and you could lose track of the basics. Who shows them where the locker room is? Who explains recovery routines? When you have good systems, none of that slips. You can plug new people into the culture, and it continues to function without starting over.” – Jason Han

“One of the biggest shifts I’ve seen is the effort to make sure international players truly understand what the culture is—not just hearing it but actually feeling part of it. That means translating communication, making signage available in their first language, and ensuring expectations are crystal clear. If players can’t understand what’s being asked of them, they can’t buy in. It sounds simple, but those small steps make a huge difference in building unity across a diverse roster.” – Mike Messer

“Culture has to outlast individuals. Players will move on, staff members will come and go, but if you’ve built something aligned from the top down, then the ethos of the club endures. What matters is not just setting goals at the start of the season, but having processes in place that carry people through the grind of a long year. Culture is about alignment—getting everyone moving in the same direction, even when the daily grind threatens to wear people down.” – Tyler Harris

Q2. Leadership Development

“Younger players don’t always see themselves as leaders, but they are in their own way. They look up to staff and veterans almost like big brothers or father figures, and those day-to-day conversations in the training room matter. They see the guys who do the right things—not just the ones who get by on talent—and it sinks in. The message we try to get across is: football is important, but there’s more to it. You won’t be the young guy forever, so you need to mature faster and start leading yourself now, because in a year or two it’ll be your turn to set the standard.” – Jason Han

“Rehab can serve as a reset for younger players. It gives them space to observe what it really means to be a professional—how to build habits, how to take care of their bodies, and how to come back stronger, not just back to baseline. That’s where leadership starts for them: by learning how to manage themselves. And increasingly, clubs are recognizing the need to connect leadership development across the whole pathway—from academy to second team to first team—so it’s not just one-off moments but a consistent evolution.” – Mike Messer

“We’ve built leadership councils to make sure decisions reflect the whole group, not just the veterans. Six players are voted in by their teammates, representing different ages, backgrounds, and nationalities, so that the conversations reflect the full locker room. The council meets with staff, coaches, and sometimes management, which creates open dialogue and makes it truly a player-led environment. Everyone still has to lead themselves day to day, but the council formalizes the idea that leadership is distributed, not just for captains.” – Darcy Norman

“A big challenge for academy players stepping up is that they’ve often been the star in their youth environment, and suddenly they’re no longer the top dog. That can really shake their confidence. We rely heavily on mental performance coaches—whether in small groups or one-on-one sessions—to help those players develop the resilience and self-belief to keep growing. Leadership for them is about learning to carry that confidence into the next level, even when they’re not the star anymore.” – Tyler Harris

Q3. Dealing with Adversity

“That’s why you establish mission, vision, and values at the start of the year—because when adversity comes, those are the anchor points. You can go back and ask: are we living up to what we said we’d do? Are we sticking to the processes we agreed on? Adversity is never easy, but if you have that foundation, you can regroup and refocus without it turning into finger-pointing or panic. In MLS, you’re always going to have ups and downs, but if the structures are there, you can ride them out and keep the group together.” – Darcy Norman

“Sometimes adversity isn’t about grinding harder—it’s about taking a reset. That might mean time away from football, a team outing, or just giving players the mental space to recharge. Over a long season, you need those breaks, whether for individuals or the group. Otherwise, the weight of losses, injuries, or off-field distractions can snowball. The teams that manage adversity best are the ones that know when to step back, reset, and then return to the process.” – Tyler Harris

“The best way to handle adversity is to balance emotion with objectivity. Emotion can fuel you, but if you stay in it too long, it clouds your judgment. Football is an emotional sport, and players feel things deeply. Our job as staff is to stay calm, stay objective, and help them reset. Some of the best players I’ve worked with—like Carlos Vela at LAFC—were misunderstood as being detached, when in reality they just knew how to block things out and stay focused. That ability to reset quickly is what separates those who survive adversity from those who drown in it.” – Jason Han

“If everything is framed around your identity as a team, then the results, whether wins or losses, don’t shake you as much. You keep moving toward the bigger picture, and that consistency builds belief. Adversity is inevitable, but when the identity is strong, players and staff can look past the noise and stay focused on what actually matters.” – Mike Messer

Q4. Performance Tech & Vagus Nerve Stimulation

“I’ve experimented with devices like Apollo Neuro and Sensate myself before ever putting them on players, because if I don’t feel the effects, I can’t expect them to. Personally, I found some improvements in relaxation and recovery when I used them during meditation. With players, the context matters. In a noisy training room, it’s hard to get that effect. But on long flights or for individuals struggling with sleep or anxiety, it might be a tool that helps. I’m not convinced it’s an everyday solution, but for the right use case, it has value.” – Jason Han

“The bigger question is: why do you need it in the first place? If players are anxious or struggling with recovery, maybe the root issue is lifestyle, environment, or workload. Sometimes technology adds another layer of compensation without addressing the cause. That’s not to dismiss vagus nerve stimulation—it clearly has a physiological impact—but as practitioners we need to ask whether the real solution is deeper than a device. Otherwise, you risk treating symptoms instead of solving problems.” – Darcy Norman

“We’ve had good anecdotal results with the Neubie system, part of the NeuFit platform. It has a parasympathetic setting we’ll use when players show poor recovery or early signs of illness. Just a 15–20 minute session over a couple days has helped restore sleep and aid recovery. We’ve especially used it during tough travel stretches across time zones. It’s not a magic bullet, but if players come in after a rough trip and we can get them sleeping better quickly, that makes a big difference in their readiness.” – Tyler Harris

Q5. Generative AI & Team Strategy

“I’ll admit I was skeptical at first—I even said on a previous podcast I needed an AI 101 class. But recently I used ChatGPT to build a rehab protocol for an unusual injury, and it gave me a really solid framework to start from. It wasn’t perfect, but it saved me hours of searching and gave me references I could double-check. For me, that was the moment where I realized this can be a practical tool in sports medicine if you know how to ask specific questions.” – Mike Messer

“The potential game-changer is predictive modeling. If we can feed in baseline data at the start of the season and build risk profiles that we can monitor throughout the year, AI could help us anticipate injury risk before it becomes reality. It has to be paired with clinical expertise and real knowledge of the players, but as a tool, it could transform how we manage performance and health.” – Tyler Harris

“We use AI as a sounding board. It helps us brainstorm, process large amounts of information, and even critically evaluate our own protocols. We’ll put in a procedure and ask it to stress-test it—what would a lawyer, a coach, or a scientist say about this? That kind of critical feedback makes us sharper. At the end of the day, AI doesn’t make the decision for us, but it challenges our thinking in ways that are incredibly useful.” – Darcy Norman

“I use it every day, sometimes even in the sauna with the voice feature. I’ll literally have a 30-minute conversation with ChatGPT about an athlete case or a business problem. It doesn’t give me the final answer, but it makes me think differently, and it raises questions I might not have asked otherwise. That’s its real power. It’s not replacing us—it’s expanding our perspective and forcing us to execute better.” – Jason Han

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Today we have the honor of interviewing Mike Potenza, M.Ed., C.S.C.S., TSAC-F, the Director of High Performance for the San Jose Sharks (NHL). Mike is also the Co-Founder of Metabolic Elite, a cutting edge supplement and nutrition company.

At the the San Jose Sharks, Mike oversees the performance department, sports medicine, player reconditioning, nutrition, budgeting, and facilities for both the Sharks and Barracuda teams. Now in his 17th season with the Sharks, Mike also spent two years with the Golden State Warriors (2022–2024), where he managed player physical training, coordinated performance testing, supported nutrition planning, and designed return-to-play programs. Beyond professional sports, he co-founded Metabolic Elite, a precision sports nutrition company, and serves as Managing Partner and Director of Performance for Tactical Fitness and Performance, extending his expertise into both athlete and tactical populations.

Mike has held leadership positions as Vice President (2015–2019) and President (2019–2022) of the NHL Strength Coaches Association, where he worked closely with the league on training protocols, performance testing, COVID policies, the Combine, and equipment standards. His work also includes a decade of collaboration with U.S. Air Force Pararescue teams, implementing performance programs that became standardized across all National Guard Bureau units. Earlier in his career, he served as Strength and Conditioning Coach for the University of Wisconsin’s men’s and women’s hockey teams, helping both capture Division I National Championships in 2006. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Applied Exercise Science from Springfield College and a master’s degree in Physical Education with a concentration in Human Movement Science from Boston University. He lives in San Jose with his wife, Bonnie, and their three children, Griffin, Natalie, and Luca.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

Here is the picture of some of the Metabolic Elite products:

You can use the special code (UPSIDE15) which is an exclusive 15% off discount code (for 60 days) and click on the button below to buy Metabolic Elite products at a special rate:

Here is the video of the Elite minds podcast between Mike Potenza and Christian LaValle, Director of Operations at Metabolic Elite.

📝Show Notes: We discussed Mike Potenza’s role leading high performance for the San Jose Sharks, how NHL teams have evolved to embrace larger integrated performance staffs, and the strategies he uses to balance strength, speed, durability, and recovery over an 82-game season. He also shared the inspiration behind launching Metabolic Elite, a supplement company focused on targeted, banned-substance-tested products, the benefits for athletes and teams, and his vision for growth, including expanding into new markets and publishing independent studies to validate product efficacy.

Here are the best quotes from the interview with Mike:

On His Role and Philosophy

1. How his role evolved & shifts in NHL performance training

“When I first came into the league, the NHL functioned with three main positions on the support side: the head athletic trainer, the head equipment manager, and the head strength coach. That was pretty much it, and you had to make do with very little staff or support. There were no assistants, and in the minor leagues you might have a part-time or volunteer person if you were lucky. Fast forward to today, and the role of performance has completely evolved. Teams are investing in bigger staffs, in analytics, in sports medicine, and nutrition. During my two years with the Warriors, I got to see how the NBA builds out large and very specialized staffs around just 15 players—because those 15 guys represent such high value. That opened my eyes to how structured and well-resourced a performance team could be, and I’ve been able to bring those lessons back to San Jose. Now, I oversee the entire high performance department for both the Sharks and the Barracuda—medical, nutrition, and performance—and we’ve grown into a 12-person staff. I think that’s the biggest shift: the NHL finally seeing the value of putting a whole team of experts around the athlete, instead of relying on one or two people to do everything.”

2. On balancing strength, speed, durability & injury risk

“Hockey is one of the toughest sports to train for because you’re dealing with a unique combination of explosive speed, heavy contact, and one of the longest and most grueling seasons in professional sports. My philosophy is to start with a very robust assessment at the beginning of the year—performance testing, range of motion, medical history, force production data, and dynamometry scores. That gives us a clear profile of each athlete: where their deficiencies are, what asymmetries exist, and equally important, what their strengths are. I think it’s vital not just to fix weaknesses but also to remind players of what they’re already good at and build confidence around that. From there, we customize programming to fit those needs. It doesn’t stop at training camp—we reassess frequently throughout the year with blood work, body composition, jump scores, and force data. For players with longer injury histories, we monitor even more closely to stay ahead of potential issues. The goal is always the same: balance strength, speed, and durability while reducing the risk of injuries and keeping them on the ice for as many of those 82 games as possible.”

3. On strategies for sustaining performance over 82 games

“The NHL season is a grind—82 games, constant travel, late nights, and the physical wear and tear of collisions every single game. There’s no single magic solution that guarantees recovery, so our strategy is about layering small but meaningful interventions that add up. Sleep is the number one factor, and we take it very seriously. It starts with the basics: making sure the sleep environment is right, from the temperature of the room to the quality of the bed and pillow. It sounds trivial, but players will tell you immediately which hotels have bad beds, and that can make a huge difference. We also focus on nutrients that support both energy systems and sleep—things like magnesium, which gets depleted during high anaerobic work in games but is also critical for sleep quality. Then we use tools like breathing strategies and specialized chairs that help players downregulate and shift into parasympathetic mode after games. Travel adds another layer, so on planes we use compression garments, electrical muscle stimulation, and even customized deep-sleep hoodies that create a cocoon-like environment for rest. None of these things alone are a magic bullet, but together they make a real impact. The players notice it, and it helps them stay consistent through the season when recovery windows are short.”

4. On strategies for sustaining performance over 82 games

“If I look back now at what’s out there and compare it to what we didn’t have, it’s amazing how fast things have evolved. I think devices are going to get smaller, more portable, and require less infrastructure. For example, with Catapult, the chip is already small, but I think it’ll get even smaller and more convenient. Clear Sky systems in arenas might eventually disappear as everything gets tracked directly through accelerometers or a single hub. What does make me nervous is the AI component—AI designing workouts or projecting performance. I don’t think we’re there yet, and coaches still need to be coaches, but I do see AI playing a bigger role in program design and injury projections. At the same time, we still need better consolidation—systems that can truly bring everything together in one place. Right now, even with APIs, you often still have to revert back to Excel or build custom systems. Hopefully, that becomes more streamlined. The other area that excites me is biomechanics and wearables. Hockey is starting to see more advanced video-based biomechanical analysis, and I think we’ll get to a point where you don’t need tethers or belts—it’ll all be tracked through video overlays or chips. Some companies are already working on wearables that measure speed, stride, force output, and biomechanics in real time. That’s where the future is heading.”

On His Startup

5. Inspiration for launching Metabolic Elite

“The inspiration for Metabolic Elite really came from a frustration with the supplement and sports nutrition industry. I’ve been in pro sports long enough to see how inconsistent, confusing, and sometimes downright shady the supplement world can be for athletes. My co-founder, Jim LaValle, is one of the most respected experts in blood analysis, nutrition, and clinical pharmacy, and I remember telling him, ‘Why don’t you just do it yourself? Build your own sport line, call it Metabolic Elite, and make nutrients that are actually specific to the needs of athletes.’ Jim has decades of experience and has even formulated products for some of the biggest companies in the industry, but we wanted to do it differently—with integrity, with scientific backing, and with products designed for very specific use cases. We pulled together a board of advisors made up of performance coaches who live this world every day, and together we created a line of products that fill real gaps for athletes in training, recovery, and health. It wasn’t about making another generic protein powder or vitamin C—it was about building precise solutions that truly make a difference.”

6. On benefits for athletes and teams

“One of the biggest benefits we bring is trust and confidence. Every single product we make is banned-substance tested through BSCG, which means athletes at any level can use them without worrying about contamination or compliance. Beyond that, we’ve developed a liposomal chewable technology that’s shelf-stable for two years and has incredible absorption—something that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the market. That’s a huge differentiator. We’re not just repackaging generic formulas—we’re developing products like Enduro2, which uses a high-dose, clinically validated compound from Rhodiola to improve aerobic capacity, time to exhaustion, and recovery, or Synapsin, which sharpens focus and attention without caffeine or stimulants. These products aren’t theoretical—they’ve already become popular among NHL and NBA players, endurance athletes, and even everyday people who want to perform and recover better. The other exciting piece is how diverse the use cases are. We’re seeing adoption in sports, in rehab and clinical settings, and even among executives and weekend warriors who want more energy and focus. That broad appeal is where I see us making the biggest impact in the next few years.”

7. On pricing model & goals for the next 12 months

“Our model is designed to be flexible depending on who you are. Consumers can purchase directly online, trainers and coaches can join affiliate programs to promote the products, and clinics or performance centers can buy wholesale at 50% off retail. That way, whether you’re an individual athlete, a training center, or a rehab clinic, there’s an accessible pathway. Looking ahead, the next 12 months are critical for us. We know we need to raise capital—not just to drive marketing and awareness, but to hire more people and expand sales. Our biggest goals are to push deeper into professional and endurance sports, get our products into more clinics, and validate everything we do with independent university studies. We already have multiple studies lined up with major institutions, and we want to be one of the few companies in this space that can back up claims with real science. In three years, I want Metabolic Elite to be recognized not just as another supplement brand, but as the go-to company for high-level, targeted formulations backed by education, transparency, and evidence.”

8. On the best way to reach out to Mike about Metabolic Elite:

“The best way is my Metabolic Elite email—[email protected]. I’ll respond back and we can even jump on a call if you’re interested in any of the products. You can also go right to the website, where there’s a lot of information to browse through. I think people will find it educational.”

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Today we have the honor of interviewing Steve Walsh, and hand on angel investor in Sports and Tech.

Steve Walsh isn’t just another name in the startup ecosystem—he’s a powerhouse mentor and investor who’s redefining what it means to support early-stage companies. As a Techstars' Mentor-in-Residence and the founder of Hands On Angel LLC, Steve has poured his energy, expertise, and capital into over 60 promising startups, helping them not only secure millions in funding but also build invaluable connections that propel them to success.

What sets Steve apart? It’s his unparalleled, “hands on” approach. He doesn’t just write checks; he rolls up his sleeves and dives into the trenches with founders, becoming personally invested in their journey. With a network bursting with strategic relationships and partnerships, Steve is the ally every founder needs in their corner.

Discover more about his mission at Hands On Angel.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: In our interview with Steve Walsh, we touched on several key themes that shaped his journey and perspective as an angel investor. We explored his background and what led him into angel investing, particularly within the sports tech space. He shared his investment philosophy, explaining how he evaluates early-stage startups, manages risk, and focuses on providing value beyond capital. We also discussed some of his favorite investments, where he highlighted the qualities in founders and technologies that impressed him most. Walsh then explained why he chose to focus on sports tech and how he sees the sector evolving compared to traditional tech verticals. Finally, he offered practical advice for founders, stressing the importance of preparation, real traction, humility, and coachability when pitching to investors.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Steve located at the top of this blog post.

Here are the quotes from the interview with Steve:

Q1. Background & Journey"My journey is a little different than most angel investors. I spent over 20 years as an operator in the US broadband space, working for two of the largest companies in the world. I helped grow one from nothing to a billion-dollar business and another to $10 billion, which was exciting. But after two decades, running a $500 million business unit with 200 people reporting to me wasn’t fun anymore, and at 46, I wasn’t ready to retire. I’d always been a big investor in public and private markets, so I started exploring alternative assets like wine and art. Then it hit me—why not use my experience in scaling businesses to help the next generation of entrepreneurs? That’s when I began angel investing. I’d show up at demo days telling founders, ‘I’ve got capital, a massive network of super-helpful people, and two decades of experience building businesses—do you need any of this?’ At first, people looked at me like I was crazy, but that’s really where it all began about eight years ago."

Q2. Investment Philosophy"My investment philosophy has definitely evolved. When I first started eight years ago, I was investing broadly—I wanted to learn, so I dipped my toes into all kinds of sectors. But the longer you do this, the more you realize your thesis needs to narrow, because you begin to recognize what good really looks like. For me, that’s B2B, SaaS, Sports Tech, and Fitness Tech—spaces I understand, am passionate about, and where I know I can add value. I don’t just write checks; anyone can provide money. I look for early-stage companies with real traction, maybe $10,000 or more in monthly revenue—something that shows me they have customers beyond friends and family. If I invest, it becomes my mission to see how my network can accelerate their growth. Maybe they need introductions for distribution, sales, or fundraising. Maybe they’ve got a gap in go-to-market or legal. My role is to help fill those gaps quickly so they can grow faster. To me, that’s the responsibility of an angel investor—protecting the investment by helping the founders succeed."

Q3. Favorite Investments"One of my favorite sports tech investments is Fitbod. I discovered it as a user before AI was even part of everyday conversation. It’s essentially like having a professional trainer in your pocket—tracking your workouts, monitoring recovery, and guiding what you should do next. What impressed me most was the founder. When I asked why he was raising capital, he told me the company was already profitable and throwing off free cash flow. He didn’t need the money; he just wanted to accelerate growth. That mindset—raising only to go faster, not to survive—was incredibly appealing. Today, Fitbod is doing $25 million a year with 300,000 users and has never raised another round. That’s what I mean by capital efficiency and humility. Another favorite is Rook, a company that built an API connecting over 300 wearables so the data can be used seamlessly by insurers, trainers, and sports teams. When I told the founder Marco that he needed to reincorporate in Delaware and move operations to the US if he wanted to raise venture capital, he literally sold his house in Latin America, moved his family to Miami, and did it. That level of commitment—being willing to do whatever it takes—is what separates great founders from the rest. You really do have to be a little crazy to succeed as a founder, and I love backing people like that."

Q4. Focus on Sports Tech"Sports tech has always been a passion for me because I was an athlete, I played college lacrosse, and I’ve spent my life surrounded by sports. So it was a natural area to focus on. What’s really interesting is how the sector has evolved. Eight years ago, very few teams were seriously investing in technology. Maybe you’d see an owner doing deals quietly on the side. Today, it’s completely different. Nearly every major sports team now has an investment arm, a venture fund, or a sidecar strategy. And it’s not just about on-field performance. Teams are investing in venue technology, food services, operations, fan engagement—anything that can give them a competitive edge. I mentor with Techstars, and I’ve seen firsthand how accelerators with teams like the Minnesota Twins are focused on not only sports tech, but venue and operational tech as well. That shift—teams putting innovation at the center of their growth strategy—has been one of the biggest changes I’ve seen in the sector. Sports tech is no longer on the periphery; it’s at the heart of how organizations think about staying ahead."

Q5. Advice to Founders"The best advice I can give to sports tech founders—or any founder—is simple: be better in every aspect. That means being prepared when you meet an investor. I can’t tell you how many times I get on a call and a founder knows nothing about me, when they could have spent 30 seconds on LinkedIn or YouTube learning who I am and what I invest in. Do your homework—it matters. Second, don’t raise money too early. Wait until you have paying customers. A waitlist, non-paying users, or letters of intent aren’t traction. Traction is revenue. Fundraising should be about pouring gas on a fire that’s already burning, not about trying to spark one. And finally, be humble. Investors have options. You need the money, not the other way around. If you come across as arrogant, it’s not going to work. Coachability is one of the most undervalued traits in founders. If you’re not humble and willing to learn, how are you going to grow from two employees to 20, to 100? The founders who are prepared, revenue-driven, and humble—the world is their oyster."

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