Nick Winkelman
CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Director of Performance Education


Nick is the Director of Education at Athletes’ Performance where he oversees all mentorship education courses and is a full-time strength and conditioning coach. Nick has a diverse coaching background within the sports performance field working with NFL Combine Preparation, Tactical Athletes, Fire Fighters and many other sports. Nick has had the opportunity to work with the Oregon State Baseball Team that won the 2006 College World Series and was the Strength Coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates Rookie League team in Bradenton, Florida. During his time in Florida, Nick trained under Aaron Mattes, internationally acclaimed stretching authority and developer of Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) Technique. Nick is currently completing his Masters in Strength and Conditioning through Edith Cowan University and through his education has been published in the UK Strength and Conditioning Association’s Journal and presented at the NSCA National Conference.

• Director of Education at Athletes’ Performance in Phoenix, AZ
• Lectures nationally and internationally on all topics pertaining to exercise science, strength & conditioning and personal training
• Works with NFL Combine Preparation, Tactical Athletes, Fire Fighters and many other high level athletes
• Worked with the 2006 College World Series Champions (Oregon State)
• 2009/2010 publications in the UK Strength and Conditioning Association’s Journal

Sue Falsone
PT, MS, SCS, ATC, CSCS
Director of Performance Physical Therapy, Athletes’ Performance and Core Performance


Sue received her Physical Therapy degree from Daeman College in her hometown of Buffalo, New York. She continued her education by earning a Masters Degree in Human Movement Science with a concentration in Sports Medicine from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sue has presented at both state and national level conferences in areas focusing on Pillar Strength, Integration of Physical Therapy and Performance Training, and Comprehensive Kinetic Chain Assessment and Rehabilitation.
Sue’s exceptional hands-on skills and knowledge of human movement provides the critical link from therapy to performance. With her expertise, she develops and implements therapy regimens for the athletes and works closely with our performance coaches to integrate the rehabilitating athlete into the training process.

• Directs all aspects of Performance Physical Therapy services and education at all AP and CPC facilities
• Content contributor for coreperformance.com
• Speaks nationally on topics related to bridging the gap between rehab and performance

Amanda Carlson
MS, RD, CSSD
Director of Performance Nutrition


Amanda is committed to helping AP’s athletes across all facilities achieve their maximum performance potential through the integration of effective nutrition into their lives. Amanda has delivered both educational seminars and individual consulting to a variety of professional and elite sports organizations. Amanda speaks about the importance of improving nutrition for both sports performance and overall health to a variety of populations at coaching seminars, military educational conferences, college symposiums and state and national meetings. Amanda also contributes to many sports and fitness based publications, has edited various sports nutrition books and educational texts, evaluates current research for the American Dietetic Association’s Evidence Based Library and is an Advisory Board Member of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

• Amanda works directly with the AP Performance Nutrition Team to help create year-long systems of success for all AP athletes.
• Coordinates the company’s performance research, undertaking both case studies and peer-reviewed research to help AP stay on the on the cutting edge of Sports Science.
• Amanda works with Core Performance community for performance nutrition.

Dan Zieky
Director of Performance Education Sales


Dan joins the APAZ Performance Sales team overseeing our education programs in all 4 facilities, working closely with national and international clients interested in continued professional education opportunities. Dan’s main responsibilities are increasing awareness of education programs to individuals and groups, further development of AP education programs and most of all ensuring world class experiences while at AP facilities. Dan comes to Athletes’ Performance with a successful background in sales and real estate where he developed key relationships with clients and portrayed qualities of leadership, teamwork, communication skills, great attention to detail and excellent customer service.
Dan is a graduate of the University of Arizona holding a BA in Communications/Business management.

Paul Robbins
MS, NASM
Metabolic Specialist


Paul has created the ESD programming for AP and Mark over the last 10 years. Before AP even opened its first center he was doing VO2 testing and designing programs for Mark’s athletes. We have now taking these years of experience along with his 24 years in the fitness industry to create a complete ESD program to help trainers understand the importance of an assessment and how to use the information to create personalized cardio programs for all levels. In addition to being the Metabolic Specialist for Athletes’ Performance, Paul is the President/Owner of Cardio2Tech, which is a metabolic education, training and installation company.

• Oversee ESD and testing programs for all AP and CP sites
• Write cardio programs for all AP clients and designed CPs computer based progressions
• Part of APs PIT team for new program development

Danielle Lafata
MA, RD, CSSD, CPT
Performance Nutritionist


Danielle joined Athletes’ Performance as a member of the AP Education and Nutrition team. Danielle graduated with a B.S. in General Business Management from Central Michigan University where she cheered competitively for 3 years as well as being captain of the team. After graduating from CMU she decided to train for the ESPN Fitness America Pageant which aired on ESPN 2. During her 3 years of training she obtained a personal training certification and completed her Masters of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Wayne State University. Danielle is also a registered dietitian and has experience in delivering nutritional counseling and education to both athletes and the general population. Danielle recently earned her Certification as a Specialist in Sports Dietetics.

• Lectures nationally and internationally on all topics pertaining to performance nutrition
• Works with NFL Combine Preparation, Tactical Athletes, Fire Fighters and many other high level athletes
• Works with Power Plate education

Anna J. Hartman
MS, ATC, CSCS
Manager, Performance Physical Therapy Services APAZ / Athletic Trainer


Anna received her BS degree in exercise and movement science from University of Oregon in 2002. While at University of Oregon Anna worked with the football, track and field, and softball teams as well as a local high school. Her summers were spent in Peoria, AZ volunteering with the Seattle Mariners medical staff working with players in the Arizona league, instructional league, and rehabilitation assignments.
After finishing her Master’s degree, Anna had the opportunity to work with the United States Olympic Committee at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego, CA prior to joining the team at Athletes’ Performance in 2005 as an assistant athletic trainer.

• Incredible attention to detail and knowledge of muscle imbalance
• Works with athletes to restore normal movement patterns in an effort to bridge the gap between rehabilitation and performance.
• Presented on AP methodology, athletic injuries, and return to sport at AP Mentorship educational series, athletic training symposiums, and many universities.

Jennifer Camhi
PT, DPT, OCS, ATC
Performance Physical Therapist, Center Coordinator of Clinical Education


Originally from Newport Beach, California, Jennifer completed her undergraduate studies at Oregon State University with a BS in Exercise Science and Athletic Training. She became a Certified Athletic Trainer upon graduation in June 2002. Jennifer continued on with her education and received her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in 2005 from A.T. Still University in Mesa, Arizona. She joined the Athletes’ Performance team in January of 2006 at the Los Angeles location. Jennifer worked there for two years before transferring to her current position as Performance Physical Therapist at the Arizona facility.
Jennifer has been the Center Coordinator of Clinical Education (CCCE) for four years, and is a Level I APTA certified Clinical Instructor. She is also head of Physical Therapy Education and Development for Athletes’ Performance Physical Therapy.

• Works with several NFL clients bridging the gap between rehab and performance
• Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS).
• Participated in a year-long manual therapy and orthopedic physical therapy course and is a Functional Movement Screen Certified Specialist.

Ben Dubin
CSCS
Firefighter Performance Manager


Ben Dubin has been working for Athletes’ Performance since 2006, where he started as an intern while working towards his BS in Exercise Science from Arizona State University. Since 2006, Ben has been testing for the fire service and has immersed himself in the culture through various ride-a-longs and through paramedic school. Throughout the past couple of years he has been fortunate to do training with willing fire crews to better understand the demands and movements placed on the body during this strenuous work. Tapping into the knowledge of veteran fire fighters, AP has begun to bridge the gap between the fire service and the strength and conditioning worlds, working to reduce injury while increasing performance on the fire ground, during training and EMS calls. Ben has been managing our Firefighter Performance workshops in educating peer fitness trainers on our methodology and adopting sustainable strategies to be brought back to their departments.

• As a collegiate athlete, Ben led the Glendale Community College baseball team to the College World Series and spent his summers training at Athletes’ Performance- Arizona.
• Ben is currently attending paramedic school for his EMT certification.

Denis Logan
Education Performance Specialist


Denis Logan joined the Athletes’ Performance team in January 2008. A 2007 graduate of the Athletes’ Performance Intern Program, Denis serves as a performance specialists in the education department.
Prior to joining Athletes’ Performance, he was a strength coach at Aviator Sports Performance in New York. Denis most recently completed his M.S. in Fitness and Health Management from the US Sports Academy.

Dan Cowan
Assistant Brand Manager


Dan joined Athletes’ Performance in June 2008 as the Assistant Brand Manager for the Athletes’ Performance Brand. In this role Dan is responsible for creating new marketing materials and programs to further spread the AP message and support the sales and development goals of the company. Dan comes with much business experience through his Undergraduate career, as he has served as CEO of a student business, ran his own company, worked for Babson’s Undergraduate Admissions Department, and also did consulting projects for PUMA International and Harman Specialty Group.
Dan graduated in May 2008 from Babson College with a BS in Business Management with concentrations in Marketing and Leadership. While at Babson, Dan served as the Babson Track & Field captain for 3 years, and graduated as the most decorated athlete in program history.

Russ Orr
Performance Specialist


Russell has been involved in professional and collegiate athletics for over 15 years. He brings a wealth of knowledge in a variety of sports performance backgrounds. Russell started his career as a student athletic trainer at the University of South Carolina where he earned a BS in Physical Education with an emphasis in Athletic Training. He then joined the New York Yankees as a minor league athletic trainer. During the 1999 off-season, Russell was promoted to the Coordinator of Strength and Conditioning. With the Yankees, he oversaw the entire minor leagues from AAA to the Dominican. In 2004, Russell joined the strength and conditioning staff at Florida State University. He coordinated the training efforts for the Seminole Baseball team and the adaptive protocols for the injured football athletes.

While at FSU, Russell obtained his MS in Sports Management. He has spoken on various baseball topics at the NSCA’s Sport Specific Conference and other national seminars. He also taught the undergraduate Methodology of Strength and Conditioning class at FSU.

Mateus Manoel
Performance Specialist


Mateus Manoel joined the APLA staff in the fall of 2008 as a performance specialist for the Men’s National Soccer Team of Mexico. While with the FMF, he worked alongside head coach Sven Goran Eriksson and was responsible for coordinating all sports performance needs of the senior team during the 2010 South Africa World Cup Qualification matches.

Born in Brazil, Mateus came to the USA in 1999 to pursue his college education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from the University of Maryland-College Park. While at Maryland, Mateus was a student athletic trainer for the Football team. He then completed a Master’s degree in Exercise Science at George Washington University, where he was concurrently a graduate assistant responsible for the fitness of the Colonials Men’s Varsity Soccer team.
Mateus lives in Los Angeles with his wife Melanie and son Nicolas. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, and is currently working on his French.

Masaya Sakihana
Performance Specialist


Masa received his Master’s degree in Exercise Science with a concentration in exercise physiology from Ithaca College, NY. While at Ithaca, he had the opportunity to perform physiological testing as well as design and apply training programs for various collegiate athletes.

As a former high-level competitive soccer player, Masa has also worked with a number of youth soccer players from both the US and his home country, Japan. His passion for research motivated an extensive cross-cultural study focusing on differences in physical fitness and athletic skills across nations. This investigation was presented at both regional and national conferences of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Scott Piri
Performance Specialist


Scott joined Athletes’ Performance in spring 2007 to focus on APLA’s soccer business. Scott brings a wealth of varied performance training experience to Athletes’ Performance, in particular his experience with elite professional soccer players.
Scott played four years of Division I collegiate soccer for Cal. State University-Northridge, before playing six years of professional soccer in Finland, Denmark, and the United States. During the off-season from professional soccer while in the USA, he worked as the Fitness Coach for the soccer teams at Occidental College and Notre Dame High School for two seasons. Also during that time, Scott worked as a Private Trainer for Sports Club- LA.