Performance Talk

Associate Professor Stephen Bird is an international award-winning performance scientist, researcher, and speaker with expertise in athlete preparation, strength and conditioning, and sport science. Stephen holds a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology, an Honours research degree in Chronobiology and a Bachelor degree in Human Movement. His works in the area spanning more than 20 years, with an extensive publication record. He currently hold the positions of Associate Professor in Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Southern Queensland, Athlete Health and Performance Lead for Basketball New Zealand Women’s Senior National Team (Tall Ferns), Associate Editor for the Journal of Australian Strength and Conditioning, and Editor-in-Chief of the International Universities Strength and Conditioning Association Journal.

During his ten year span as Director of Strength and Conditioning at the Western Region of Sport (WRAS), the program was four-time winner of the National Strength and Conditioning Association Strength of America Award in the USA, following which Stephen was recognised with the WRAS Life Membership Award and Australian Strength and Conditioning Association Mentor Coach of the Year.

Stephen’s international experience as an innovative performance science consultant is impressive. His previous clients include the Indonesian Olympic Committee, Basketball Scotland, British Basketball League, Basketball New Zealand, Scotland Rugby League, Poland Rugby League, Team UR Racing, Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation and the Solomon Islands Performance Institute. Working with the highest-performing athletes from around the world, Birdy has attended two Olympic Games (2008 Beijing and 2016 Rio), World Championships, World Cups, Commonwealth Games, Southeast Asian and Asian Games, along with multiple international pre-competition training camps.

Closer to home, Stephen has worked within championship-winning teams across the National Basketball League, Women’s National Basketball League, and National Rugby League. He teaches proven strategies to successfully embed integrated performance frameworks, translating scientific data into practical and applied performance strategies. Communicating complex performance issues through a simplified contextual unpacking process allows key personnel to fully understand the benefits to improve organisational performance. 

Working elite sport since 2000, “Birdy” as he is affectionately known, has implemented high-performance frameworks all around the world for developing youth athletes to elite juniors, through to World Champions and Olympic Games medallists.

Eric McMahon is the Coaching Program Manager at the NSCA Headquarters in Colorado Springs, where he oversees and facilitates the growth of coaching and sport science program initiatives. He joined the NSCA Staff in 2020 with over 15-years of coaching experience, including roles with the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, and the MLB Europe Programs. McMahon has spoken both in the U.S. and internationally on strength and conditioning topics, including on the use of “Velocity Based Training” and technology to guide and monitor the training process.

Kris Robertson is a Strength and Conditioning Coach with Rugby Canada. Kris is responsible for the physical development of the Senior Women’s National 15’s, as well as the Women’s Rugby Canada Development Academy in Ontario. Kris is a former professional athlete of the Canadian Football League (CFL) being drafted by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 11th overall in the 2013 draft, unfortunately he suffered a knee injury that cut his professional aspirations short. Since then Kris has been Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL. Kris has worked with athletes from a broad spectrum of sports such as swimming, hockey, basketball, judo, and soccer, Kris is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA) and is currently in progress of completing his Master’s of Exercise Science at Edith Cowan University. 

Daniel Heller is the owner and founder of Ironwood Health & Fitness LLC based out of Gig Harbor, Washington. The common thread of his strength and conditioning practice since starting in 2007 is his passion teaching movement competency and efficiency to youth athletes. Connecting with youth athletes through what is important to them, their sport, is the key to unlocking the door to inspiring them to want to move better. They care what Daniel has to offer because he cares about them.

Daniel holds a Bachelor of Exercise Science & Wellness from Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington. A Master of Science in Strength & Conditioning from the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is an NSCA Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and Registered Strength & Conditioning Coach. He also sits on the Washington State Board of the National Strength & Conditioning Association.

Daniel’s sports of preference that he has been participating in since he was a kid and continues to coach and compete are mountain biking and ice hockey. He’s a USA Hockey Level 4 coach, USA Cycling Level 2 Coach, and Professional Mountain Bike Instructor Association certified instructor.

Dr Paul Comfort is a Reader in Strength and Conditioning and programme leader for the MSc Strength and Conditioning at the University of Salford, UK. He is also and adjunct professor at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. Paul is a founder member and accredited member of the UK strength and conditioning association and currently a National Strength and Conditioning Association Board Member. He is also a senior associate editor for the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research and has authored / co-authored >150 peer reviewed journal articles along with numerous book chapters. Paul is also co-editor of the text books, ‘Advanced Strength and Conditioning: an evidence-based approach’ and ‘Performance Assessment for strength and Conditioning.’

Craig is the Director of Sport Science with Phoenix Rising FC and the Director of Sports Performance with the Arizona Bobcats Hockey Club. He came to Phoenix after serving as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League. While with Everett Craig trained 13 NHL draft picks, two free agent signees, helped lead the Silvertips to a US Division title, and lead a team with no games lost due to non-contact injuries over three years. An expert in post-game recovery, he has been invited to speak on recovery modalities and program implementation at conferences for the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He graduated from Boise State University with a Bachelors in Exercise Science and a Masters in Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Performance Enhancement Specialist, and Certified Speed Specialist. The native of Boise, ID lives in Phoenix with his wife Jessica and their four sons, Keegan, Connor, Winston, and Camden.

Jacob is a strength and conditioning coach with a strong interest in strength and power training, movement skill, and long term athletic development for junior and senior athletes.

He is the co-founder of Metric VBT (Velocity Based Training) and is one of the leaders bringing VBT from theory to application.

Andrew started as an athlete in a small town in Kansas where he participated in three sports in high school. His sports career continued at Baker University where he played baseball and basketball. During that time Andrew began to find his true passion for fitness and performance. While majoring in Exercise Science his knowledge on fitness and health continued to grow. Throughout his athletic career at Baker, he realized his strength performance goals could be reached by getting into weight lifting. After he graduated he knew that he wanted to share the knowledge he learned to help other people, and that’s where his personal training career started.