The NAPL: Enhancing Husker Student-Athletes' Performance

Video: 'We're Learning Things We Haven't Seen in Football’

Randy York’s N-Sider

Once a month, in a Nebraska Athletic Performance Laboratory (NAPL) conference room inside East Memorial Stadium, Steve Waterfield leads a meeting that focuses on Husker student-athlete performance, safety, and long-term health and well-being. Waterfield, Nebraska’s senior associate athletic director for performance and strategic research, facilitates the discussion that features cutting-edge technology and collaborative decision-making on prioritizing policies and procedures. Those decisions, in turn, are designed to provide a positive impact on Nebraska student-athletes who compete at the highest levels in all 24 Husker varsity sports.

Catapulting Nebraska to the Forefront of Research and Technology

This is not a share and compare kind of meeting. It is adhering to a vision to catapult Nebraska Athletics to the forefront of research and technology, enabling Husker student-athletes to benefit from an integrated approach to student-athlete training. The Nebraska Athletics Performance Team empowers and optimizes its inherent expertise in athletic medicine, sports nutrition, strength and conditioning, and performance improvement. The athletic liaison to UNL’s academic Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior (CB3), Waterfield meets monthly with the following members of the Nebraska Athletics Performance Team, including:

Dr. Lonnie Albers is associate athletic director for athletic medicine. He has served as Nebraska’s director of athletic medicine since 1995 and has worked at Nebraska since 1985.

Mike Arthur has worked 38 years for Nebraska Athletics and now serves as the department’s director of strength and conditioning performance research.

Dr. Judith Burnfield has directed the NAPL since 2013 and the leader of a talented multidisciplinary team that includes five post-doctorate fellows.

Boyd Epley is Nebraska’s assistant athletic director for strength and conditioning with oversight responsibilities supporting Husker Power strength and conditioning and working directly with the baseball team as its head strength and conditioning coach.

Mark Philipp is Nebraska’s new strength and conditioning coach for football after previously serving as assistant head strength coach for football at USC.

Lindsey Remmers is Nebraska’s director of sports nutrition and a registered dietitian and board-certified specialist in sports dietetics.

Jerry Weber joined the Nebraska athletic medicine staff in 1977 and has been NU’s head athletic trainer and associate director of athletic medicine since 1996.

Collaboration Benefits All Nebraska Student-Athletes

All eight members of the Nebraska Athletics Performance Team collaborate to provide the best opportunities for Husker student-athletes in all sports to improve their performance in an innovative and safe way. Researchers also join forces with Nebraska Athletics’ coaches and staff, as well as colleagues from around the world, to address areas that are critical both to student-athletes and to society as a whole.

“NAPL’s research agenda includes investigating the impact of training techniques, therapeutic interventions, and how nutrition relates to performance and recovery,” Burnfield said. “The performance lab assesses the biomechanical impact of performance on the student-athlete’s body by harnessing biomarkers in saliva and blood to guide training. The goal is to develop technologies that reduce injury and improve performance while, at the same time, identifying and reducing the factors that lead to injury and chronic conditions later in life.”

The NAPL, in essence, draws together researchers in biomechanics, computer sciences, endocrinology, engineering, ergonomics, exercise physiology, nutrition, physical rehabilitation, psychology, sports science and vision. The NAPL researchers collaborate with Husker coaches and staff, as well as colleagues around the world to address areas that are critical to athletes and society. In her first year overseeing the NAPL, Burnfield has concentrated on “mapping” priorities, hiring five research scientists, while also integrating the strengths of doctoral students and an interdisciplinary team of volunteer research assistants. Her team is now leading and moving the NAPL full-speed ahead with targeted research to assist in the health and well-being of all Husker student-athletes.

Director Burnfield Earned Biokinesiology Ph.D. at USC

An internationally recognized researcher in biomechanics that emphasizes human locomotion and safety, Burnfield has meticulously hired a staff that will enable research, study and collaboration of diverse areas under one roof, another example of how the NAPL represents a trailblazing academic/athletic partnership.

While Nebraska’s research efforts primarily address student-athletes, “we expect the novel technologies and interventions that evolve to impact the lives of others across the ability and age spectrum,” said Burnfield, who has multiple biography pages to detail her background in education, plus her patents, book, articles and abstracts, and workshops and professional presentations. Nebraska’s top-tier technology in the NAPL includes a motion-analysis system, force plates, metabolic testing, and a “gold standard” scanner in body composition testing, plus a research-grade ultrasound machine and an endocrinology laboratory.

In his third year as Nebraska’s Director of Athletics, Shawn Eichorst sees a clear vision for the NAPL. “The performance lab blends conventional wisdom and science to help our student-athletes optimize their performance in a safe atmosphere,” Eichorst said.

The NAPL’s Areas of Expertise Are Wide and Varied

Here’s a quick look at the people moving NAPL’s vision forward:

Judith Burnfield, Director, Nebraska Athletic Performance Laboratory: Having been awarded three patents for innovations emerging from research and development efforts, Burnfield’s research aims to enhance the performance, safety, health, and long-term well-being of individuals across the age and ability spectrum. Her teaching emphasis includes biomechanics, gait, physical rehabilitation, and wellness. Burnfield earned her Ph.D. in biokinesiology from the University of Southern California after receiving her B.S. in Physical Therapy from the State University of New York in Buffalo, N.Y.

Jessica Calvi, Endocrinology Research Fellow: The director of NAPL’s salivary bioscience laboratory, Calvi’s research focuses on empathy, interpersonal relationships, and social behaviors in the developmental context with an emphasis on physiological responses to social stressors, including social evaluation and group dynamics. She earned her Ph.D. in lifespan developmental psychology at Oklahoma State.

Gui Cesar, Sports Biomechanics Research Fellow: With a focus on sports biomechanics, Cesar earned his Ph.D. in biokinesiology from the University of Southern California. After playing professional basketball in Brazil, he practiced orthopedic physical therapy prior to his doctoral studies. His research focuses on dynamic stability during sport-specific maneuvers and on the prevention of lower extremity injuries.

Ryan Hasenkamp, Research Analyst: With a background in biomechanics, physiology research, and strength and conditioning, Hasenkamp earned two degrees in exercise science from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, concentrating in biomechanics but also active in exercise physiology. His role at the NAPL is to assist with clinical and performance research to enhance the well-being and performance of student-athletes.

Leilani Madrigal: Sports Psychology Research Fellow: A college softball player from California, she earned her Ph.D. in kinesiology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, concentrating in sport psychology while earning a doctoral minor in educational research methodology. Her research focuses on the mental components associated with sport performance and injury recovery.

Patrick Wilson: Sports Nutrition Research Fellow: With a focus on sport-related and health-related nutrition, Wilson earned a degree in dietetics and is credentialed as a registered dietitian. His Ph.D. in kinesiology came from the University of Minnesota, where he also took substantial coursework and received training in the areas of public health and epidemiology. His research expertise is in the integration of sports nutrition.

Resources Equip Student-Athletes, Enhance Performance

Waterfield said the NAPL’s overall expertise “gives Nebraska the tools and the resources we need to enhance athletic performance.” The NAPL is well-positioned to extend expertise and personalized service to Nebraska athletic programs that reach beyond the initial NAPL collaborators – football, soccer, baseball, golf, track and field and women’s gymnastics.

Applications from the NAPL technology are already benefiting Husker student-athletes, according to Weber, who oversees the operation of athletic medicine facilities, supervises the Husker staff of athletic trainers and student assistants, and directs orthopedic rehabilitation. “The ability to have a facility with all the bells and whistles for performance research as well as health and safety research will become more and more vital for us,” Weber said. “Our ability to capture motion by multiple cameras  and then study that motion at a slower speed helps us determine how someone’s landing on a force plate or using their upper body while throwing a ball, a discus, a football or swinging a bat or a golf club. When you have pictures and data from several different force plates and camera angles, you can show exactly what they’re doing wrong.”

With Technology, Pictures Deliver Required Evidence

Weber cites a catcher on Nebraska’s baseball team who had hip surgery. “We were able to take him to the Performance Lab where he could put one foot on a force plate and another foot on another force plate,” he said. “That enabled us to measure the difference between perceived and actual balance so he could correct what he was favoring. The injured side needed to come up without pain. You have all the pictures you need and can put markers on the torso to see how they’re rotating. You don’t have to explain what we call improper motion because they can see it themselves and know exactly what they need to change. They often can correct it immediately. So many say: ‘Wow, I didn’t know I was doing that.’ You don’t know until you actually see it.

“Now we have an even higher level inside the Performance Lab,” Weber said. “We have the ability to develop baselines using ultrasound technology for Achilles tendon or patellar tendon pathologies, you name it. Having the ability to take individual athletes to the Performance Lab to measure what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong is really exciting to me.”

Dr. Albers: Nebraska Establishing Unparalleled Platform

Dr. Albers shares Weber’s excitement. “The addition of the NAPL has provided a first-rate facility and personnel for testing and advancing the health and performance of student-athletes,” he said. “Through the use of ultrasound, Dexa scanning, force plate and motion analysis, treadmill testing, and endocrine analysis, we're able to expand our individual and collaborative approach to the care and promotion of the health of student-athletes.” In his 30 years serving Nebraska Athletics, Albers believes the Huskers have reached a pinnacle point in terms of innovative support. “The combination of high-tech engineering, dedicated professionals, and student-athletes fully engaged in maximizing their individual and collective abilities," he said, “establishes an unparalleled platform for fulfilling our mission of service in an academic setting.”

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