Today I am so happy to welcome Dr. Aaron Heishman back to The Podcast and introduce him as our 4th presenter for The 2024 edition of The Central Virginia Sport Performance Seminar. “Heish” is doing some fantastic work in Vegas with the Golden Knights and is researching with the best of the best in the world at their sport. Throughout the 30-minute discussion Dr. Heishman and I get into:

• Some of the “challenges” that have reared themselves after the short off season.
• What is means to be “a fiduciary” in sport, and why it’s vital in situations where you are collecting and utilizing data.
• Factors that impact what data they’re collecting and the devices/means they’re collecting it
• Why patience is so important from a science perspective
• How vital it is to keep in mind, “what performance is” if we call ourselves performance coaches.
• The positive value that research in other vocations can have on us as performance coaches

I could not be happier to have Heish on the docket this summer and am super grateful for him taking the time to be on the show and, as always, being so open to sharing. He’s truly is doing some awesome work in Vegas and is an absolute wealth of knowledge that’s not just absolutely driving our entire vocation forward by pushing the envelope in the performance monitoring world, but leading from the front with the actual “applied sport science” that he’s practicing. Make sure to give him a follow @aheish11_ on Instagram. I hope you found value in the show, and if you did please feel free to share this episode with a collogue that you feel would enjoy it, and please don’t forget to subscribe and give us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast player. I truly do appreciate it.

Who is Aaron Heishman?

Aaron is the Head of Sport Science and Reconditioning for the Vegas Golden Knights. He is primarily responsible for directing the sport science initiatives of the organization, as well as leading the implementation of return to play programming for athletes undergoing long-term rehabilitation. Prior to his time with the Golden Knights, he worked as the Assistant Director of Basketball Performance and Sport Scientist at University of Oklahoma. While at OU, Aaron earned his PhD in Exercise Physiology with research focused on athlete monitoring strategies used to evaluate neuromuscular performance and fatigue in basketball players. Before Oklahoma, Aaron worked as the Graduate Assistant for Basketball Performance at the University of Virginia, where he found a passion for trying to bridge the gap between applied performance practices and research in effort to maximize athlete health and performance.