Hey Everyone, My name is Mike Powell and I am the Minor League Medical Coordinator for the Arizona Diamondbacks. This is currently my 10th season working with the Diamondbacks while holding many different roles for the organization over the 10 years including minor league athletic trainer to a coordinator on multiple levels. I am certified as an athletic trainer and licensed in the state of Arizona. I earned my Master's Degree in Sports Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh and my Bachelors Degree in Athletic Training from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Most of my professional experience comes in baseball and recently have been intrigued by a multitude of topics including: Return to play progressions (throwing, running, hitting) that maximize player health / recovery & performance. Biomechanical analysis of running and throwing to maximize health and performance. Learning and implementing soft tissue and treatment techniques to influence movement and range of motion. Leadership - how to develop the people on my team and myself to be the best versions of ourselves (personally & professionally)? Personal Development - how can I continue to push myself in my knowledge, communication, leadership, listening, and collaboration for the betterment of the team? I am looking forward to engaging with this community and learning from everyone. Hopefully I can provide a few nuggets along the way for you guys as well. Please feel free to reach out with questions, suggestions, struggles, and triumphs that you are experiencing in your work from the topics above and anything else that might be interesting!

Hi Brittany! There is no coach-specific app. More information on the Gx app can be found here: https://www.gatorade.com/gx-app

On 5/9/2026 at 11:27 AM, EDenina said: Having a great off season is what sets a solid foundation of strength development, movement quality, and tissue resilience to endure a full season.  During a peak season push the goal shifts from focusing on adaptation to finding the balance between maintaining strength/power and managing fatigue. Here are some of the things I focus on for maintaining strength. - Training with moderate to high intensities – Main lifts are performed with moderate to submaximal loads of 70-85% while keeping volume low. The goal is to drive intent, preserve strength and power while avoiding neuromuscular fatigue. - High vs. low minute athletes – High minute players require maintenance and recovery.  Due to the density of the NBA schedule, training frequency can be limited 1 to 3 lifts per week. This is where micro-dosing can be effective in season.  Having short 10 – 15 minute sessions spread throughout the week ensures consistent loading, fatigue management, and compliance.  Depending on the schedule or the athlete’s fatigue level, sessions may focus on either heavy strength lifts, speed/power, or mobility/injury prevention.  On the other hand, low minute players require more frequency, intensity, and volume.  We typically shoot for 3 – 4 lifts per week.  The focus is to continue to build and maintain the physical qualities gained through the offseason. - Maintaining tissue health – Different methods can be used to maintain tissue health and resilience.  Heavy yielding isometrics can be used to elicit healthy tissue adaptation.  If athletes tend to feel sore due to the stress on field/court, yielding isometrics with light to moderate load for long durations can also be beneficial to help manage pain/soreness.  Yielding Isometrics is a good method for tissue adaptation, pain management, while minimizing muscle soreness.  Utilizing machine-based exercises for accessories is another way to promote healthy tissue surrounding the joints.  These exercises are less taxing on the nervous system and serve as a safe alternate in providing load to the athlete. - Managing Recovery - Continue to stress the importance of sleep, nutrition, and hydration as the primary tools for recovery. Utilizing passive modalities and active recovery methods can be just as beneficial. Our active recovery sessions consisted of yoga, light pool workouts and team mobility sessions to maintain movement quality and readiness.  Throughout the season the athletes go through a continuous cycle of feeling fresh and fatigue from the demands of the sport. It's important to understand when to implement stress and when to pull back. The peak season is where athlete availability takes priority. Balancing all aspects of performance, recovery, and injury prevention is key. What we do in the weight room should supplement readiness and resilience rather than accumulating fatigue. Elbert Denina - Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach - Dallas Mavericks Elbert, I'm curious how you've been able to navigate conversations with these athletes who play low minutes? I know how some athletes can be when they aren't seeing a ton of playing time. How have you ensured that athletes don't feel singled out? And how have you encouraged them to comply with your efforts to get them more training exposures when they might be simply angry or discouraged about a lack of playing time? I dealt with this in professional baseball a lot.

Katie, thank you for replying the guide and the pre fuel snack suggestions are particularly helpful and perfect for me to send to my coaches. Appreciate the time and help, Darin

Join us in New Orleans for the opportunity to talk with leading experts in the fields of strength and conditioning, sports science, and more. JULY 8 Expo Booth Hours 3:00–6:00 PM CDT Location: Hyatt Regency New Orleans JULY 9 Expo Booth Hours 8:30 AM–6:00 PM CDT Location: Hyatt Regency New Orleans JULY 10 Expo Booth Hours 7:30 AM–4:00 PM CDT Location: Hyatt Regency New Orleans Uncovering the Science Behind the Advanced Hydration System 1:00–1:50 PM CDT Location: Hyatt Regency New Orleans, Celestin Ballroom This presentation explores the science behind hydration. Our speakers will examine the key physiological mechanisms —including the role of carbohydrate and electrolytes like sodium — that enable faster fluid absorption and retention in the body. The session will then guide you through real-world scenarios and athlete profiles to help you select the right sports drink formulation based on your athletes’ needs, whether they are seeking a lower-sugar option for weight management, enhanced electrolyte concentration for extreme conditions, glycerol-enhanced products, or performance-boosted solutions for high-intensity training. By understanding the science behind and application of each product variant, you'll be equipped to optimize your athletes’ hydration strategy for peak performance and recovery. Speakers to include: Sam Goldenstein, PhD, CSCS | Gatorade Sports Science Institute | R&D Associate Principal Scientist Christina Chu, MS, RD, CSSD | Sports Dietitian Consultant

On 3/23/2026 at 10:52 AM, jstewy4 said: Hey everybody, I'm Josh Steward, Performance Coach with the New York Knicks with some tips for off-season training. When planning off-season training it is important to start by focusing on recovery, both mentally and physically from the previous season. The longer the competitive season is, the longer the break should be before starting training. For NBA players who play an 82-game season (not including playoffs or pre-season) over the course of 7-9 months, they will need more time off to recover compared to high school athletes which may be ready to begin training as soon as a few days after the season concludes. Less frequent games, younger ages, and mandatory off days in-season also contribute to the shorter rest period for high school athletes. The plan for the off-season will be dictated by several factors such as: · Time available (length of off-season, number of sessions per week, and time per session) · Player health (current and/or past injuries) · Individual goals for each athlete (which are likely to be created collaboratively among the performance and coaching staff based on the previous season’s performance and testing results for each athlete) Once the training begins, we want to ease them back into it and focus on building capacities and working on proper movement patterns to build a foundation for our later more intensive training. During this period movement quality is an important factor (controlled tempos, full range of motion, & core stability) that will help training quality later. After the athletes develop a solid foundation, we want to focus on increasing volume and tissue health/remodeling (both muscle and tendon). This could be the time where you focus on body composition as well if that is a point of emphasis with the athlete. As we get closer to the season it is important to start increasing intensities to prepare the athletes for the demands of competition in terms of strength, speed, and endurance. This could include more strength focused training, more intensive plyos, and small sided games. While progressing athletes through the off-season it is important to consider what they are doing on court with the coaching staff and what variables you want to progress. If possible, you want to avoid large increases in multiple areas at the same time. For example, as the strength and conditioning coach you do not want to add workload through lifting and speed training (either through intensity or volume) at the same time sport demands increase because that will lead to a large spike in total weekly workload for the athletes that can hinder recovery and performance. It is better to stagger the progression among the different areas for a more small but frequent progression that leads into the next season. The piece I'd emphasize for anyone reading is your last paragraph. The weight room doesn't operate in a vacuum. When on-court volume starts climbing, that's exactly when you pull back on the lifting volume. I am curious, though, how you approach conditioning? How much of that piece do you allow the sport itself to take care of for you? The other thing worth emphasizing is how individualized that early recovery window has to be. I've had many athletes who feel prepared to get right back into training and others need the complete off time.

On 9/5/2025 at 1:23 PM, CScissum said: When it comes to athletes preparing for a great day of practice, intent and a detailed approach is key. How do you go about recommending mobility, functional movements, stretching or other modalities to put your players in the best position based on individual needs? I am thinking in terms of injury history, mobility limitations, positional and tactical demands of the style of play. On a team level, it can be really difficult to be individualized during pre-practice routines and warmups. I think this is mainly for the ATC as it relates to prehab work in the training room. When we get onto the field, the core goal for me as a strength & conditioning coach is to provide a ton of movement variability and keep things unpredictable to avoid the often mundane nature of warmups. Why is variability important? Because it gets tissues and joints functioning in ways that aren't repeated over and over in sport and broadens the degrees of freedom within which athletes can produce force and feel comfortable in. This is a huge reason why in the Summer and Fall I use what are called "8 Vector" jumps and plyometrics. This is an idea and system from Nick DiMarco & Jordan Nieuwsma. Think of change of direction or multi-planar jumps and plyometrics. I have found this to be very important for ankle stiffness and work capacity of the lower leg to handle repetitive ground contacts throughout the year.

We tell our athletes this all the time: you can't pour from an empty cup. But if I'm being honest, sometimes if feels impossible to take own advice. Earlier this year I had the chance to present on exactly this topic. As I was researching for this talk, here are some stats that I found in the literature: over 60% of athletic trainers have low energy availability, 40% of AT's meet criteria for burnout, and shortened sleep is directly tied to more clinical errors and higher intention to leave your profession altogether. The framework I keep coming back to is simple: Fuel. Move. Sleep. Think. Four pillars, but the real challenge isn't knowing what to do — it's building systems that actually hold up in the middle of a tournament week when everything goes sideways. Some of the strategies that came out of that conversation that I found most practical: Fueling : Identifying your personal "danger times" — the windows where you're most likely to under-fuel — and having a simple go-bag ready. Protein + something that grows (Fruit, Veg or Whole Grain). Moving : Reframing movement as "snacks" rather than workouts — walking the perimeter of the field before practice, a set of wall push-ups between meetings, stairs instead of elevator. Leisure walking specifically has been shown to reduce work-related stress in ATs more than high-intensity exercise. Sleeping : Pre-deciding a minimum number of hours per night — not a perfect night, but a floor you'll protect — and building a short shutdown routine you can actually do at midnight after a late game. Thinking : Building micro-debriefs into the week — even just 10 minutes with a colleague to process a tough case or a hard conversation. And normalizing the idea that self-care isn't a reward for getting your work done; it is part of the work. I'd love to hear what's actually working for people in this community. What creative rituals, habits, or hacks have you built into your routine that genuinely help you take care of yourself — especially during the brutal stretches of the season? And what barriers have been hardest to crack? Drop it below 👇

Good points

Hi Keegan! In a P4 collegiate setting, we're fortunate to have most of our practitioners under one roof — AT, PT, S&C, nutrition, sports medicine, sport psych — but proximity doesn't automatically equal communication. You can have everyone in the same building and still operate in silos. So the infrastructure matters, but so does the culture and expectations you build around it. On systems and communication tools: We use a layered approach — athlete management software (Epic and Teamworks) as the backbone for documentation and monitoring, private messaging for quick cross-staff communication, and regular in-person High Performance Team meetings. Honestly, no single tool solves it. What matters more is the norm you establish: everyone documents, everyone reads, and no one assumes another provider already communicated something critical. One thing that's helped enormously is establishing a shared language around rehab phases. When the AT and S&C are using the same phase terminology, I can align my nutrition protocols accordingly — ideally, energy availability targets, protein timing, and supplementation strategies can shift meaningfully between early-stage tissue healing and late-stage return-to-performance loading. If I don't know what phase an athlete is in, I'm guessing, and that's a disservice to the athlete. On the rehab-to-performance transition: Personally, This is where I think nutrition could be utilized more. Readiness to transition could include a nutritional readiness component. Is the athlete fueling adequately to support high-load training? Are they coming out of a prolonged deficit from the injury period? Have we addressed body composition changes that happened during rehab? I try to advocate for a seat at that table. On differing philosophies and overlapping responsibilities: This is where things can get genuinely messy. The fix isn't always a formal protocol; sometimes it's a direct, honest conversation between practitioners before it becomes an issue or confusion for the athlete. I try my best to address those tensions early and keep the athlete's wellbeing and performance as the non-negotiable center of the conversation. Overlapping scope is another real tension. An example of this can happen between nutrition, S&C, and AT around supplementation, body weights and/or body composition. I've found that clearly defining responsibilities and who leads (vs who influences) in each area early in the staff relationship is really helpful. Hopefully everyone can default to collaborative rather than territorial ("you're in my lane") language. What's worked best: The single highest-leverage thing you can do is invest in the relationships before you need them. When an AT trusts my clinical judgment and I understand their rehab philosophy, the communication around a specific athlete becomes much faster and more effective. Those relationships don't happen in staff meetings — they happen in the hallways, in the weight room, and over lunch. Continuing pain points: Curious how others are handling the philosophy conflicts specifically (ie different philosophies on the best course of RTP, treatment/referrals for EDs, and how to fund and prioritize programming) — sometimes this feels like the least-discussed and most consequential friction point. I like to try and center the group around a common goal and then dive into the evidence, but sometimes people interpret evidence differently and I would love to hear any other helpful approaches!