The Charlotte Hornets announced a bunch of new hires to fill out a revamped and significantly larger performance and training staff.
We’re proud to announce the finalized Charlotte Hornets health and performance staff! 🐝 https://t.co/Gsvbmyn2VM | @CorcoranHM pic.twitter.com/puHIZo4wqd
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) August 12, 2024
Dr. Trent Salo leads the group as the organization’s new Vice President of Player Health and Performance. He comes from the Detroit Pistons, where he was most recently their Senior Director of Athletic Performance. He has a degree in exercise science and kinesiology, a masters in exercise physiology, and a doctor of physical therapy. He’s currently pursuing a PhD from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark with a focus on tendinopathy. Tendinopathy is the bane of most athletes’ existence and has shelved many a Hornet over the last few years. Hopefully Salo’s expertise in that area will help.
Dr. Quinton Sawyer is getting promoted from the Hornets associate head athletic trainer to just the head athletic trainer. I know there’s probably some apprehension about retaining anyone from the previous training staff, but Sawyer did just earn himself a gold medal serving on the training staff for Team USA men’s basketball at the Olympics, so he’s clearly highly regarded.
You can read the full release to get the bios on the rest of the hires.
On the surface, it’s another home run set of hires for the new regime. I don’t know the specifics of the past training staffs, but I can confidently say they were not this robust and overflowing with experience and credentials. A number of the staff are doctors in their respective fields with several pursuing PhDs in very basketball related topics like tendinopathy, sport and exercise, motor control and learning, and workload in the NBA. The quick hit resumes are outstanding. There’s no surefire way to prevent injuries and it’s always on the players to respond to the direction they’re given, but it’s clear the ownership group and front office are doing everything they can to stock the Hornets full of resources to make the team better.
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