Clemson Athletics is widely known for creating athletes ready to perform at the highest level: hundreds of Tigers recruits have gone pro and turned their dreams into reality after their time at Clemson. But none of this would be possible without the program that forms the basis of their success: Olympic Sports Science.
In November 2021, Jason Avedesian, Ph.D., was named Director of Sports Science for Olympic Sports. At Clemson, that includes all sports except football and basketball, leaving Avedesian responsible for 17 varsity sports and about 350 student-athletes. Although he recently moved into the new role of director of biomechanics and research for the Cleveland Cavaliers, his impact on the university was – and still is – enormous.
At the first annual Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute (RHBSSI), RECREATION Symposium in October, Avedesian received the inaugural GRIT Award from the Friend of the Institute. The award was given to an individual who has worked significantly over the past three years to advance RHBSSI’s mission to support and promote the work of students, faculty and staff at the University of Clemson to enhance the sports experience. The origin of Avedesian’s position was actually a co-funded collaboration between Athletics and RHBSSI for the first two years, and that investment has really paid off.
While passionate about all aspects of his position, Avedesian placed particular emphasis on the first part of the mission: supporting and promoting student work. “The most important thing in my role as director of sports science, especially over the last three years, has been growing our student internship program,” he said.
“In reality, the goal was for students to have real opportunities in the world of sports. They can find out what they’re passionate about and what they love, and if it’s something they’re passionate about and want to make a career out of.
The internship program includes a one-semester science-based program, based on student interests. Positions range from performance science, data analysis, research and design, to technology efficiency and implementation.
Biomedical engineering major and Olympic sports science intern Claire Sumwalt is one of those students who benefits from Avedesian’s passion even after he leaves the program.
“The Olympic sports science program allows me to connect one of my hobbies with my studies in biomedical engineering,” she said. “I am very grateful for a program that allows students to be so creative and passionate.”
Previous interns have become graduate assistants, earned their doctorates in sports science, and been selected to work for professional sports organizations. The sports science skill set translates to dozens of other fields, making these interns highly skilled and marketable.
During his three years at Clemson, Avedesian oversaw all sports science initiatives in Clemson Olympic sports in partnership with RHBSSI. He credits his interns with helping him manage the volume of projects, saying, “Most importantly with student interns, having so many sports and hundreds of athletes throughout the year with different training and performance needs, has been helping me expand different initiatives.
“We wanted to expand sports science to as many teams and student-athletes as possible. »
Putting these words into practice meant creating quantifiable initiatives. Avedesian landed on five condensed starting points: improving the health and well-being of student-athletes, fostering collaborations between performance teams for the monitoring and education of student-athletes, maximizing the mastery and effectiveness of the use of sports science technology and analytics in Clemson’s Olympic sports, conduct and publish peer-reviewed scientific research, and develop strong, lasting partnerships between Clemson’s athletic and academic groups.
Avedesian continues to serve as an external committee member for a Clemson bioengineering student’s baseball-focused doctoral research, demonstrating the intersection of research, analysis, and team collaboration while working toward the goal common to improve the health of student-athletes.
In addition to the growth and development of the student internship program, the engineering side of Avedesian’s brain pushed him toward a specific interest in technology.
“Things like force plates, GPS and sprint technology help quantify different metrics in our athletes in different sports. Understanding the different demands of playing football, lacrosse or volleyball helps them achieve peak performance,” he said.
Now that he’s working with the 2016 NBA champions, he’s focusing more on the biometrics of one specific sport rather than a dozen. The biggest similarity between the positions, he said, was the technology used.
“I always use force plate technologies and external load monitoring technologies. The data will be different because it’s basketball specific, but the questions I’m trying to answer are the same.
“For example, what are the real demands of the sport? This means planning reverse engineering practices and working around injuries to achieve the best possible performance,” he said. “It’s not necessarily preventative, it’s more about trying to have a holistic understanding of each athlete.”
One of the benefits of reducing the size of his roster from 350 at Clemson to 15 at Cleveland is that he was able to drill down and understand the demands on an athlete-by-athlete basis. By looking at each person’s strengths and weaknesses, he can create a stronger team as a whole.
“Ultimately, the main goal is the health of the athletes. We want to keep athletes on the field and, from a longevity perspective, athletes are more likely to continue playing if their well-being is taken care of.
Another difference between his title with the Tigers and Cavaliers is the breadth of data Avedesian has access to. Through the NBA’s data sharing agreements, it can look at league data from other players and teams to help it develop unique insights for its own players.
This becomes especially crucial because of the wide variety of athlete anthropometrics on a given team: a seven-foot center will have a significantly different movement profile than his six-foot point guard teammate. Considering all the contextual factors of minutes played, preferred position and whether they specialize in offensive or defensive play, Avedesian helps them.
Moving forward, Avedesian plans to stay in Cleveland for a while, but he hasn’t forgotten his time at Clemson. “I think it’s pretty cool to receive it,” he said of his GRIT award. “I had great relationships with many of our university partners during the three years I was there. It is gratifying to see the successes of our students and the sports science program in such a short time. Seeing them join the workforce and find great mentors like I did throughout my college career is incredible.
“In an academic setting, sports science is unique because of the relationship between sports science and academics – it can’t be a one-sided affair, there have to be people meeting in the middle, and I loved being able to translate information and insights. knowledge between the two stakeholders. This is the mission of the RHBSSI.
Clemson recently welcomed Shane Bernhardson, Avedesian’s former graduate assistant in Olympic sports science, to take on the role of director.
“I am excited to have the opportunity to return to Clemson and continue to grow the sports science program,” he said. “I look forward to working with our support staff, student interns and university partners for years to come.” »
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