Welcome back on SPORT VITAMINS for episode 49! Today's guest is Dr Stephen Bird. Dr Stephen Bird is a well-known author, speaker, and researcher with expertise in elite athlete preparation, strength and conditioning, and nutritional supplementation. He has been an elite performance consultant and advisor to professional sports teams since 2000. Some of the topics we touched on are: 1:12 Background 3:52 What is stress 6:32 How to monitor stress 8:56 Assessing sleep 13:27 Accumulating sleep 15:46 Scheduling caffeine 24:23 Recovery tools 31:12 Psychological recovery 39:40 Managing stress for coac ..read more

Welcome back on SPORT VITAMINS for episode 48! Today's guest is Benas Matkevicius. Born in Lithuania, grew up in Germany, high school in Louisiana, college in Arkansas and then back to Germany before going to the Boston Celtics via Moscow. Benas has now been working for the Celtics as an international scout for almost eight years, becoming one of the most essential parts of the Celtics operation Some of the topics we touched on are: 1:00 Background 6:30 Playing career 16:45 Being passionate about the game 21:00 Transition from playing to coaching 29:00 Lack of effort vs Lack of focus 31:00 Bo ..read more

Welcome back on SPORT VITAMINS for Episode 47! Today’s guest is the Suns and Mercury Executive Chef, Brendan Ayers. Brendan and his team prepare the high-quality nutrition that fuels the Valley’s best athletes. Nutrition is a key component of high level performance, but food must also be fun, tasty and meet the expectations of the athletes. Brendan will walk us through the gourmet kitchen at the Verizon 5G Performance Center and unveil some of the secrets to become an NBA chef. Find BRENDAN AYERS : https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-ayers-6a525514/ Find me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/r ..read more

Welcome back on SPORT VITAMINS for episode 45 As I promised last week, today’s episode is a true Christmas gift for all the listeners out there. Today’s guest is non other than Dr Nijem Ramsey. Coach Ramsey was named Men’s Basketball Director of Sport Performance at KANSAS UNIVERSITY in September of 2019 Prior to that, he was the NBA’s youngest head strength and conditioning coach, directing strength and conditioning, sport science and nutrition for the Sacramento Kings. Coach Ramsey is also the creator of the Applied Performance Coach Course, a 12 week certification course and mentorship pro ..read more

Welcome back on SPORT VITAMINS for episode 44! Today's guest is Tristan Chai, Head of Medical Department of the Adelaide 36ers. Some of the topics we touched on are: 1:00 Background 2:07 Day-to-day life of a physiotherapist 5:50 Private sector vs Professional basketball 10:25 Pre-season Assessment 15:16 Working hand-in-hand with the Strength Coach 18:23 Rehab continuum 28:30 Being present while on the physiological table 30:34 Recovery strategies 35:35 Communication 39:49 Rapid fire questions Find Tristan: https://www.instagram.com/36ers.physio/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristan-chai-b11 ..read more

Welcome back on SPORT VITAMINS for episode 43! Today's guest is coach Zack Zillner. Coach ZIllner has a vast amount of experience at four NCAA Division I institutions, Kansas University, University of Illinois, University of South Mississipi. Currently he is in his sixth season as women's basketball sports performance coach for the Long Horns. Coach Zillner develops, implements and supervises the training regimen for the Texas women’s basketball team in the areas of speed, strength, agility, conditioning and flexibility. He also works hand in hand with the areas of sports medicine and perf ..read more

Welcome back on SPORT VITAMINS for episode 42! Today’s guest is coach James Davis III, Doctor of Physical Therapy and strength and conditioning coach with more than 15 years of experience at many levels, including the NBA. Currently he is the Head Performance Coach at Overtime Elite, an Atlanta-based basketball league aimed at offering "the world’s most talented young basketball players a better pathway to becoming professional athletes” The league recruits high school juniors and seniors, as well as "post-grad" players up to the age of 20 years old.  Many stars and NBA players has in ..read more

After a loooooong Summer break I am back with Episode 40 of SPORT VITAMINS. Today I am really honored to have Matteo Zuretti on the show. Matteo is the NBPA Chief International Relations & Marketing. Matteo and I know each other since 2008 and finally I had the opportunity to have him on the show. Some of the topics that we touched on are - Background - Importance of wearing different hats - NBPA and Matteo’s role within the organization - How to deal with superstars - Creating and Owning a brand - Importance of having interests outside of basketball - Being the best version of yoursel ..read more

Welcome back on SPORT VITAMINS for Episode 39! Today I am really happy to have Anthony Barry on the show. Anthony is the Head Athletic Performance Coach for the Motor City Cruise, the G-League team of the Detroit Pistons. Anthony and I have been in contact for the past two years and finally we got the chance to talk shop on the show. Some of the topics that we touched on are - Importance of having a background as an athlete - Differences between PRIVATE SECTOR and TEAM - VBT 0:00 BACKGROUND 3.30 Importance of having a background as an athlete 5:25 Why Strength and Conditioning? 7:30 Diff ..read more

SPORT VITAMINS is back with episode 30! Today's guest is guest is none other than coach Lew Caralla, Georgia Tech’s head football strength and conditioning coach. I have been following coach Caralla on social media for more than two years and he is a huge inspiration to me. Coach Caralla has previously served as the head strength and conditioning coach for three different NCAA Division I FBS programs, most recently at Buffalo, where he was named Football Scoop’s 2018 Strength Coach of the Year. Besides his position at Georgia Tech he is an amazing motivational speaker, with all of his spee ..read more