Roots Podcast

Ross Shumway joined UCLA Football in April of 2022. He oversees the fueling needs and nutrition optimization for all 120 UCLA Football Student-Athletes. Shumway’s background specializes in utilizing nutrition to address the metabolic needs of football-specific athletes, including; analysis of energy balance and dietary intake, body composition, hydration status, safe supplementation, pre- peri- an...

In his role as Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Nutrition, Frakes leads LSU sports nutrition team, overseeing the strategic nutrition direction for all student-athletes on campus. He will serve as the director of football nutrition and will have oversight for LSU’s 20 other sports. While at Louisville, Frakes volunteered his time to co-lead the Black Coaches & Staff Association at Louisv...

Michael Urban is the Oski Technology Mental Performance & Life Skills Consultant for the Cameron Institute within Cal Athletics. In this role, Michael supports student-athletes and coaches across campus in performance, mindset, and sport well-being development for success at and beyond life at Cal. Michael’s specialties include delivering evidence-based mental skills training in both group and...

Anthony (Tony) Paradis, MA, MS, RDN, CSSD, CSCS, USAPL is a board-certified sports dietitian with over 12 years of experience working with athletes and athletic programs. He is currently the director of Olympic Sports Nutrition for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. As the Volunteer Coordinator of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics practice group: Sports and Human Performance Nutritio...

Stephanie joined the M’s organization as a Mental Skills Coach in January of 2021. She's been fortunate to be a member of the Mental Performance team with the Mariners for the last 2 seasons and currently heading into her 3rd season as the Mental Performance Coordinator. Prior to her transition into professional baseball, she spent 2 years at IMG Academy working with their GLAX, Baseball, and Tenn...

Brandon Sardine is a Performance Coach at Future, an online Personal Training Platform, but has spent most of his career in the field of Strength and Conditioning at the Collegiate, High School, and Olympic levels.    He has had stops at William Penn University, the Chinese Olympic Committee, Barton College, IMG Academy, and D1 Training prior to his current role. He has not only known fo...

Isaac Mourier is from England with 5 years of experience working with elite athletes in a number of sports. His experiences have taken him across the world working with high school, college, and professional athletes at all levels. He has supported professional sports teams, international basketball federations, and NCAA Division 1 collegiate teams, as well as dozens of NBA draft prospects and sup...

Jason Currently serving dual roles as the Director of Sports Research & Innovation for the Performance Innovation Team at Ohio State University. He is in the final year of his Ph. D. at West Virginia University. His doctoral work comprises coursework in Applied Coaching & Performance Sciences, and most of his research has been with WVU Men’s Basketball. Previous stops include Texas Christi...

Carol DeNysschen is a Full Professor and Dean of the School of Professions at SUNY Buffalo State College.  Carol’s heavy science background opened multiple career doors.  Her research focus, in her spare time, is with cancer patients at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and she uses her love of nutrition and exercise to help cancer survivors prevent cancer recurrence.   Carol was Depart...

Coach Bless is passionate about teaching kids and athletes how to take care of their bodies. He teaches the importance of meditation, flexibility, and mobility. From Atlanta, Coach Bless went to Columbia Highschool 2011 and graduated from Miles College in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management. He received his YTT Yoga Certification at The Lotus Pond in Tampa Florida in 2018...

Bio: Corbit Franks, Ph. D., ATC, CES Assistant Professor and Clinical Education Coordinator of Athletic Training  Ph. D.: Nutrition and Hospitality Management – University of Mississippi (2020)  Master of Science: Nutrition and Hospitality Management – University of Mississippi (2013)  Bachelor of Science: Athletic Training – Union University (2010)   Corbit Franks, Ph. D., ATC...

Mike has over fifteen years of strength and conditioning experience, having been the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at two colleges, where he oversaw the training of 26 varsity teams, supervised the campus fitness center and its staff, ran the colleges’ strength and conditioning internship programs, and helped coach the track teams. Taking a position with United States Army Special Operation...

Garrett is a former professional track and field athlete, 3x national champion in the shot put, former NCAA D2 national record holder, and men’s field athlete of the year in 2016. He is also a 2x finalist in the USA championships. He has five years of track & field coaching experience. Former college coach of 3 years (track and field) and now 2 years of high school coaching (football, track, a...

AT ASHLAND UNIVERSITY  Majesky is in his eighth year as the Eagle athletic program’s Head Strength & Conditioning Coach. He oversees the training and development of 24 varsity teams, as well as the day-to-day operations of two varsity athletic weight rooms.    BEFORE ASHLAND UNIVERSITY  Prior to returning to Ashland, Majesky was an Athletic Conditioning Specialist at The Oh...

Best way to contact Bill! - email bgillespie800@gmail.com Family Married to Anita Gillespie - 38 years Two children - Cameron & Rachel Cameron Gillespie - married to the former Shelley King Coaching Background Assist. Track coach Liberty University: 1983 - 1986 Interim Head Track - Liberty University: 1986 Assist Track Coach - Liberty University: 1987 - 1989 Assist Strength Coach - Liberty Uni...

Matt is a Graduate of Binghamton university, College of community and public affairs (CCPA).   He can be reached at mpitche3@binghamton.edu   Your Body Is Your Business! Shawn and Laura are professionals based out of Atlanta “Trust, respect, passion, & integrity. These core values can be offered on your journey to optimize your lifestyle changes. Our goal is to provide you with the t...

Cathy is a Registered Dietitian, author, speaker, and member of the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA). Cathy has been practicing in the field of dietetics for over 20 years and has a wealth of expertise and experience in the nutrition field.   BS in Dietetics at The University of Georgia  Dietetic Internship -Vanderbilt University  MS in Exercise Phys...

Nate Young brings almost 20 years of strength and conditioning experience to the table. He is currently working privately with remote clients. Previously, Nate was the Head Strength and Conditioning coach for Buffalo State College for 10 years, a public Division 3 college in Western New York where he was responsible for overseeing, designing, and assisting with the implementation of training...

Christina Chu is a performance dietitian consultant based out of Chicago, IL. She works with athletes from youth baseball players to professional combat athletes to optimize their nutrition to fuel their lifestyles. Her nutrition practice is rooted in applicable scientific evidence, where she provides individualized nutrition structure with flexibility for sustainable actions. She has developed an...

JT was born and raised in Aurora, Ohio a suburb of Cleveland. Started in strength and conditioning as a summer volunteer intern at The Spot Athletics in Columbus Ohio, and was then hired on at The Spot Athletics as a Performance Coach. From there got an opportunity as a volunteer intern at Ohio State University, before spending two seasons with the New York Jets. After the Jets, moved down to Loui...

Diamyn Hall is one of the most well-known thought leaders, entrepreneurs, life coaches, mindset coaches, & leadership coaches in the world. He has trained, coached, & developed over 1 million athletes, coaches, and entrepreneurs in 20+ different countries. Diamyn is currently working at IMG Academy operating as a leadership coach in the Athletic & Personal Development department where...

Amber has been the football dietitian at Michigan State since January of 2021. Her experiences working at the collegiate and pro levels include UNC, IMG Academy Combine Prep, NY Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, and the University of Oklahoma. She holds a bachelor's in biology from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and a master's in nutritional sciences and dietetics from the University of Oklahoma....

Episode 2: Laura Delosier  Laura is a strength and conditioning coach at Life University in Marietta Georgia. She holds a bachelor's of education in exercise science from Connecticut State University and a master's of science in Kinesiology from Southeastern University. She has past experience working at IMG Academy, Southeastern University, Liberty University, Yale University, and UCONN. How...

In Episode 1 Shawn discusses his purpose for creating the "Roots" podcast and an in-depth background into his journey! Shawn Pitcher is a registered and licensed dietitian. He currently is the sports dietitian for Overtime Elite in Atlanta Georgia. He holds a bachelor's in science, a master's in human health, performance, and recreation, and completed 1 year of Ph. D. work with a focus in sports n...