Day 1: Thursday, May 15th
McCormick Place, Room W196 (Level 1)
7:15 AM
Breakfast Available
8:00 AM
Welcome Remarks
Drew Galbraith, Michael Ashton, Isaiah Wright
8:05 AM
Put Your Mask on First: Self-Care, Ethics, & Well-being for Health and Performance Professionals
Justin Anderson, Ben Kenyon, Sam Tourek, Mandy Tyler — moderated by Dr. Kensa Gunter
Description
This panel will address the importance of self-care as an ethical responsibility, a mechanism for providing competent care, and a way to promote personal and professional well-being. The discussion will include a definition of self-care, the signs of burnout, and proactive strategies to facilitate health and wellness within our professional community.
8:40 AM
Why Isn’t Your Player Recovering? Nutritional Considerations Related to Fatigue, Overtraining, & Under Performance
Jennifer Sygo
Description
This presentation will explore nutrition-related concerns that could influence player fatigue and recovery. Discussion will involve best approaches for development of an interdisciplinary assessment and monitoring plan to address signs and symptoms of fatigue and/or poor recovery and provide understanding of the risks of dietary restriction and/or under-fueling on health and performance outcomes in male athletes.
9:05 AM
Exploring Patellar Tendinopathy & Workload in Professional Basketball Players: A G League Pilot Study
Wiemi Douoguih, Scott Epsley, Bryan Heiderscheit, Pete Meisel, Jenny Strickler — moderated by Dan O’Brien
Description
This panel will discuss the setup, implementation, and preliminary findings of a pilot longitudinal study conducted during a G League season. Panelists will explore how the season’s physical demands influence patellar tendon health, focusing on the relationship between tendon morphology and functional performance. They will also share insights from biomechanical assessments, ultrasound elastography, and jump performance testing, and discuss potential future directions for research aimed at in-season management and preventive strategies to optimize patellar tendon health.
9:45 AM
20-Minute Intermission
10:05 AM
Health Through Movement: A Standardized Approach to Biomechanics Assessments Across the NBA
Keith D’Amelio, Barnett Frank, Matt Jordan, Greg Myer, Jess Zendler — moderated by Courtney Chaaban
Description
Beginning in the 2025-26 NBA season, all players will complete a biomechanics assessment four times per season. This panel will explore biomechanics in the NBA, including implementing the assessment program across the league, empowering players and teams with biomechanical insights, and integrating biomechanics data into multidisciplinary player care.
10:50 AM
Plyometrics: Evidence-Based Progressions and Profiling
Mike Young
Description
This presentation will provide a coach-friendly, biomechanics-based model for plyometric progressions that can be used to guide practitioners across long term athletic development, return-to-play, and high-performance annual planning scenarios. The presentation will also discuss how performance coaches might use jump testing to profile athletes and guide their training needs.
11:15 AM
Tools for Leveraging AI as a High-Performance Sports Practitioner
Sam Robertson
Description
With the world of AI changing by the week, with its impact likely to soon be transformative in just about every industry, this presentation discusses some of the AI tools that high-performance sport practitioners can apply directly to their current workflows to improve both efficiency and effectiveness. More importantly however, it provides frameworks which organisations and practitioners can use to ask, and find solutions to, fundamental questions relating to the use of AI and technology in the workplace. For example, how to decide when AI should be integrated into processes – and for what tasks? How to determine the specific need that is being addressed by adopting AI? What implications does AI adoption have for both the structure and culture of high-performance environments? To what extent can the contemporary practitioner innovate and thrive without leveraging AI? Using sports specific examples ranging from injury surveillance to tactical analysis, participants should expect to leave the session equipped with the knowledge of how to use AI to make their jobs better for the present, as well as preparing for the fast-changing AI world of the future.
11:40 AM
20-Minute Intermission
12:00 PM
Approaches to Off –Season Strength and Conditioning in the Modern NBA Era
Bill Burgos, Juwan Howard, Jon Lee, Mike Young — moderated by Jesse Wright
Description
Off-season training in the NBA has evolved significantly over the years, shaped by advances in sports science, changing player needs, and an increased emphasis on year-round performance management. This panel will explore key elements of modern off-season programs, including recovery and training timelines, program design that aligns with both team and individual goals, and the differences in approach for developmental players versus veterans. Panelists will also discuss effective methods for maintaining strong communication between players and team staff, best practices for collaboration with external coaches and trainers, and strategies to keep off-season training effective and engaging.
12:35 PM
Team Decision Making Using Sport Technology
Joey Davey, Erik Phillips, Sam Robertson, Bobby Webster — moderated by Phil Anloague
Description
This panel will explore how NBA teams utilize sport technology to make decisions regarding various player health and performance matters. Panelists will discuss how former and newer technologies such as AI are currently utilized to gather, analyze, and share data between health staff and front office personnel, and any potential advantages, disadvantages or risks that may be associated with utilizing groundbreaking sport technology tools.
1:10 PM
Closing Remarks & Lunch Available
1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
NBSCA Tradeshow
Room W190