Performance Talk

Joel is in his sixth year at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He oversees the day-to-day operations of both the Athletic Training and Sports Performance departments with his direct care being to football, golf and M/W tennis. Prior to UW-La Crosse, Joel was an athletic trainer Oklahoma State University where he worked with Cross Country/Track & Field. He holds a undergraduate degree from UW-Madison in Athletic Training, a Master’s Degree in exercise science from the University of Kansas and is pursuing a doctoral degree in athletic administration and leadership from Concordia University-Chicago. Joel also hosts two podcasts, Clinically Pressed and Athletic Training Chat.

Trent is the National Director of Sports Innovation for Select Medical and the founder | developer of the ViPerform AMI™ & ViPerform AMI™ RTSport. Trent holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology, a masters in physical therapy, and a doctorate with a focus in biomechanics and motor learning. The ViPerform AMI™ (Athletic Movement Index™), a computerized 3D movement analysis system that uses wearable sensor technology (dorsaVi™) to provide lab quality biomechanical data to assess movement patterns know to put athletes at risk for non-contact injuries. The ViPerform AMI™ has been used to assess >18,000 athletes by 375+ clinics, performance centers, professional teams and physicians throughout the US. The ViPerform AMI RTSport combines the AMI with on field testing to provide clinicians with objective data for making RTSport decisions.

Dr. Nessler is a recognized national and international speaker and has developed certification courses in the athletic movement index, BFRT (blood flow restriction training) and rehabilitation of the combat athlete. Trent has served as a national and international consultant in movement assessment and RTSport for collegiate and professional athletics and MMA. Trent serves as the team physical therapist for the competition teams for TN Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy and Gracie Barra Alabama. Dr. Nessler has also been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA for 6+ years and is a competitive purple belt in BJJ.

Dr. Matt Jordan has been a strength and conditioning coach and applied sport scientist working with international athletes over six Olympic Winter Games. Matt is currently the Director of Sport Science at the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary and is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary. His research focuses on neuromuscular adaptations to resistance training and ACL injury/re-injury prevention in elite athletes. Throughout his career as a strength coach/sport scientist, Matt has consulted with more than 30 Olympic and World Championship medalists, and he frequently provides his expertise to high performance sport organizations.

Coaching for over 15years…experience at various levels of youth, college and professional sport…currently the Head of Athletic Performance for the San Jose Earthquakes of the MLS…my primary role is the physical development and performance of our senior team along with the oversight of our Development Academy and partnering USL program to develop an alignment for our organizations physical management.

…previous to my current role with the San Jose Earthquakes, I spent time with the United States Soccer Federation as a Performance Coach for US Soccer Youth National Teams. Concurrently, I worked as Sports Performance Director for MVP Physical Therapy and Performance, a private facility in the Seattle area.

…Prior to my work with these organizations I was the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the San Jose Sharks of the NHL…and Director of Performance Analysis/Strength and Conditioning Coach for Santa Clara University Women’s Soccer.

I got my start in psychology at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. I specialized in clinical psychology with a focus on grief psychology and subsequently worked as a research psychologist. This experience gave me tremendous insight into the human mind and human behavior. I used this knowledge to feed my passion for sport and high performance and took a step down a different path in psychology eight years ago when I founded StatuMentis. I now work with the mind and heart of people to help them achieve a state of mental strength, clarity, and focus. To build resilience, mental toughness, and competitive fierceness.

We provide services to elite athletes, teams, and coaches as well as military, law enforcement, business and medical professionals. Our four departments (Individual Performance; Coach Consultancy; Team Culture and Dynamics; Mental Screening) work together to provide services that are fully customizable to address the situation in the best possible way. Our focus is on the source and not the symptoms to ensure concrete and lasting change.

Devan McConnell is the Director of Performance Science and Reconditioning with the New Jersey Devils of the NHL. In this role, he oversees the integration and application of sport and performance science technologies, systems, and practices. In addition, he assists with the day-to-day performance training of all National Hockey League athletes within the organization, oversees the return-to-play training of injured athletes and assists with the organizational vision and directive of the Performance department, at both the NHL and AHL levels. Prior to his appointment in New Jersey, he was the Head of Hockey Performance and Sport Science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. In this role, he was responsible for the oversight and development of all aspects of physical development for the Ice Hockey team, including strength, speed, and power development, energy system development, nutrition, recovery and regeneration, physiological monitoring, sport science, technology integration, as well as coordination of analytics, long term athletic development, and tactical periodization. In addition to this role, he is responsible for the physical development of the Field Hockey team. Prior to joining UMass Lowell, McConnell served as the Sports Performance Coordinator at Stanford University from 2008-11. He worked closely with the women’s basketball team, along with men’s and women’s volleyball, all of which were regulars in the NCAA Tournament. During his tenure, Women’s basketball competed in 3 straight Final Fours, the Women’s volleyball team competed in two Final Fours, the men’s volleyball program won the 2010 NCAA Championship.

Andrew Langford is a leading Strength & Conditioning and Sport Performance Consultant, and Director of the International Universities Strength and Conditioning Association (IUSCA). Over the past 15 years he has worked with several international organisations including Great Britain Basketball, England Basketball, and GB Ski and Snowboard, as well as providing consultancy for a variety of professional teams in many sports. During this time, he has helped teams and athletes to compete at major international competitions and world championships. He also currently leads the S&C support for boxing World Champion, Josh Warrington. Andrew has a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Sport & Exercise Physiology and is accredited through the UKSCA.

Dr. Annaccone has over 15 years of educational and clinical experience, serving as a Board Certified, Licensed Athletic Trainer, a Corrective Exercise Specialist and a Performance Enhancement Specialist. His expertise is in clinical diagnosis of musculoskeletal pathologies, human movement assessment, neuromuscular manual therapy and corrective/performance exercise programs, conflict management/resolution and leadership in Sports Medicine. He is an active member of the profession of athletic training, serving on various local, regional and national athletic training committees; most recently as District 6 Representative for Texas and Arkansas for the NATA Government Affairs Committee and the Chair of the Workgroup for Sports Science, Health and Data Analytics for the NATA. In 2013, he was recognized by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) with the NATA Young Professionals’ Committee National Distinction Award.

Jake Pence is a former 3-time All- American football player and Hall of Fame member from Ohio. I originally moved down to NC to Teach and Coach. I have been a wrestling coach for 22 years and have acquired over 500 dual wins, produced 4 national champions, 7 high school All-American, over 40 state champions, hundreds of state placers and qualifiers. As a football coach I coached several dozen athletes into the collegiate ranks, and I coached several athletes that played in the NFL, CFL, and AFL. In 2008, I started my own sport specific training facility. During that time I used the conjugate method, made famous by the great Louie Simmons, and I trained olympians, and professional athletes from the: UFC, Bellator, WEC, NFL, CFL, AFL, MLB, the 3-time world strongest woman, powerlifting world champions, pro & amateur bodybuilders, Jui-Jitsu champions, and general populations from all walks of life. I have accomplished a lot in this life and almost all of it has come from the world lifting. I have trained entire teams at my facility and online and contributed to 12 state championships in a multitude of sports, 18 state finalists, and a multitude of other sports.

Martin O’Reilly is the co-founder and CEO of Output Sports, a spinout company from University College Dublin (UCD) which develops one-stop tools for S&C and Physiotherapy. Prior to forming Output, Martin completed his PhD, developing and evaluating machine-learning classification systems for exercise technique assessment and lectured in Biomechanics and Exercise at UCD. He was the 2019 winner of the ‘Best Idea’ category of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur.