Watch David in action throughout the day and two dominant qualities will become evident: determination and decisiveness. It’s no surprise that he is a former Division I option quarterback, someone proficient in being able to quickly make smart decisions while under a tremendous amount of pressure. While it’s been a few years since David has been on the gridiron, those quarterback qualities continue to serve him well as he steers the USPC from concept to completion. The idea for a facility that would redefine the very approach to athletic performance started when David was just out of college and embarked on a career in the field of exercise science.
After volunteering for 3 years, in the weight room, as an assistant strength coach, David found his true passion. He then started working as a strength coach upon graduation. That naturally moved into the field of exercise science. As a former player and emerging coach, he channeled genuine talent for finding the best ways to improve athletic performance. Endless hours in weight rooms and training facilities gave David unrivaled ground-level experience, but his continuously curious nature also led him to a realization that motivates him to this day.
“I noticed,” he recently said, “that there was a huge disconnect between the academic world and the athletic world. I mean, the exercise science community was leaning on time-worn techniques and traditions. They certainly worked to a degree, but the community was largely unaware of any breakthroughs or innovations in sports performance, recovery, and injury prevention that originated from academic research. For me, that was inconceivable.”
Armed with that realization, David became determined to put himself on the forefront of academic research awareness, and use it to inform his approach to exercise science for the betterment of his athletes. He emphasized that he has “always continued to look at the next thing -- the latest innovations and improvements, provided, of course, they are affirmed by credible academic research,” David explained. Extrapolate that notion to its greatest possible scale, and you have the philosophy that’s powering the USPC.
David elaborates that the USPC goes well beyond a commitment to performance training and into that much deeper research oriented organization. Its impact will transcend optimized sports performance to encompass rehabilitation, nutrition, mental skills, biomechanics, recovery and any other variables that will improve outcomes for everyone from athletes to stroke patients to injured soldiers.
“It’s simple,” David. “The USPC is bridging the gap between what’s happening in the sports performance world, and what’s evolving thanks to breakthroughs in exercise science. Our mission is to lead the real-world implementation of research findings, translating the academic for the sake of application. No other facility anywhere in the world is making this happen.”
David continued, noting that the USPC is already attracting standout researchers under the human performance umbrella. It’s the synthesis of top academics, top athletes, showcasing testing and research across the board. It will unify everyone and everything at a single location that’s home to an unprecedented assembly of expertise.
“Bottom line,” David concludes, “the USPC will be the global epicenter for the human performance industry.”
