When you think of a sports scientist, at first you might picture that guy from ESPN who goes into excruciating detail about Tiger’s club speed or Kyrie Irving’s quickness off the dribble. (Personally, I think a show about science should have focused on teaching Kyrie about the Earth being round, but I digress.)
When soccer pros think of a sports scientist, they think of a guy like Atlanta United FC’s Ryan Alexander. Before coming to Atlanta last year, Ryan worked as a sports scientist and physiologist for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams. And as the Head of Sports Science for the Five Stripes, Ryan is responsible for designing, implementing, and monitoring the conditioning plans for all the players—from Miguel Almiron to the youngest members of the academy.