ETSU sport physiology & performance PhD students (part I)

Interest in the Sport Physiology and Performance PhD at East Tennessee State University is growing, and so I thought it would be good to put up a post with each student introducing themselves. You will see that we all have a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and research interests – something that truly adds to what we have going on here at the Center of Excellence for Sport Science and Coach Education (CESSCE). It truly is the first of its kind in the US.

Christian Carter

Christian Carter is from Oak Park, IL, just outside of Chicago.  He got his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Kinesiology-Exercise Science and his Master's degree from Virginia Tech in Health Promotion-Sports Performance where he also served as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach.  Christian currently competes in Olympic weightlifting at the 94kg weight class.  His research interest is on eccentric accentuated loading, specifically its use for squats.

Jeremy Gentles

Prior to starting the PhD program here at ETSU, I also received my undergrad and graduate degrees in exercise science from ETSU. My primary interests include overtraining (biochemical and other physiological markers/indicators), injuries, and technology in sport. Recently, I have also started to help with a web based athlete monitoring and system at www.sportably.com.  

Howard Gray

My first interest in sport science came as a young athlete growing up in the south-west of England looking to improve my own athletic performance. This continued as I pursued a college scholarship and semi-professional football/soccer in my late teens. After moving to the US, late on in my undergrad I started my coaching career as an assistant soccer coach, a role that I continued when I first arrived at ETSU for my masters degree.

I made the transition from football / soccer coach specializing in fitness, to sport scientist specializing in the sport when I returned home to England to work as an intern S&C coach for Reading FC. Following my preseason internship, I was kept on and my roles were expanded before I moved into a full time position at Crystal Palace FC in London.

Coming back to ETSU is an exciting experience as the program allows for a unique combination of research and applied work. Satoshi Mizuguchi and I provide sport science support for the ETSU men’s soccer team, coached by Scott Calabrese. I also assist Meg Stone in coach education for the Center of Excellence for Sport Science and Coach Education.

My research focuses on the monitoring and periodization of football / soccer training.

Guy Hornsby

My exploration into sport science began like most; as an athlete.  I was quickly captivated by competitive sport, not only by the thrill of competition, but by the commitment and dedication required of the training process.  More to the point I was very intrigued by the weight room, specifically strength development.  I wanted to be stronger than everyone else.

I began my journey into sport science at ETSU 5 years ago.  I chose ETSU so I could throw for legendary strength/track and field coach and 2-time Olympian Meg Stone and take classes from renowned sport scientist Dr. Mike Stone.  When I first I arrived in Johnson City I thought I wanted to be a strength and conditioning coach, admittedly, I wasn’t sure what that really meant or involved.

After the completion of my undergraduate degree I decided to further my knowledge and practical experience in sport science by joining the masters program at ETSU. I continued my athletic career as a weightlifter under the tutelage of Dr. Stone (I firmly believe that being an athlete and training like one has been an integral part of my development). By this point I knew I wanted to be a strength coach and had a much clearer idea of what that entailed. The masters program introduced me to sport science research.  My thesis was a training study conducted on collegiate throwers.  The project lasted several mesocycles and involved periodic measurements of both physiological and performance variables.  I plan on doing more training studies in the future further exploring the concept of periodization. As an aspiring strength coach I think I gravitated towards periodization as my research emphasis due to its comprehensive nature investigating the training process. 

Currently, I am in the first semester of the sport performance PhD program at ETSU.  My general responsibilities include, lab supervisor, research, assisting in the athlete monitoring program, and designing and implementing ETSU baseball’s strength and conditioning program. 

My experience so far at ETSU has taught me what is required of an elite level strength and conditioning coach. Strength and conditioning is a multifaceted endeavour. So many considerations exist within this intricate and often perplexing process that a scientific approach is required.  I plan on using scientific principles to implement training programs, monitoring programs, and aid sport coaches in the training process.  Since understanding the underlying physiological mechanisms of sport is crucial for a superior training program, I also intend on being active in sport science research. 

I am very excited for the next couple years of doctoral work at ETSU. 

Christian Carter & Mike Israetel with Ambrose Serrano

Mike Israetel

I was born in Moscow, Russia in May of 1984. In June of 1991, may parents took my family out of the USSR to the United States to flee communism. In the United States, I finished high school with top honors, and attended the University of Michigan for my undergraduate major in Movement Science. During my studies at the University of Michigan, I began to get serious about powerlifting, and I co-founded the Michigan Powerlifting Club. Through the powerlifting club, I had the pleasure of training several nationally and globally ranked powerlifters. After Michigan, I attended Appalachian State University for my Master's in Exercise Science. There I studied to great benefit under Jeff McBride and Travis Triplett. It was at Appalachian that I developed and interest in hypertrophy-specific training, and began to train several national-caliber bodybuilders and powerlifters. After a year of personal training in New York (an excellent experience), I began my studies in the Sport Physiology PhD program under Dr. Mike Stone. My current (actually continual) research interests include the relationship between DOMS and hypertrophy, and, more involvingly, fatigue management in hypertrophy-specific weight training programs.


Part II: Brian Johnston, Ashley Kavanaugh, Chris MacDonald, & Satoshi Mizuguchi