Move the Needle: The Human Performance Podcast Jordan Pennella: In-Season Athlete Monitoring
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Dec 3, 2025 Jordan Pennella, Director of Sport Science and Return to Play Associate Coordinator for LSU Football, shares his expertise in athlete monitoring. He discusses his innovative 'sonar vision' approach that integrates multiple data streams to optimize player availability. Jordan breaks down his five key monitoring categories and explains how he weighs and interprets various metrics. He emphasizes the importance of minimizing testing burden on athletes while ensuring effective interventions. Real-life case studies illustrate the success of his strategies in maintaining peak player performance.
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Unified Sonar Vision For Athletes
- Jordan built a unified athlete “sonar vision” by combining GPS, CMJ, ISO, weight trends, and wellness into one risk label.
- The system outputs a simple stoplight risk score to guide targeted interventions without overreacting to single metrics.
Data Streams Interact, Don’t Act Alone
- Athletes are organisms, so interactions across workload, weakness and asymmetry determine risk, not single streams.
- The model multiplies flags when combined deficits (e.g., workload spike plus weak/asymmetrical hamstrings) increase vulnerability.
Weight Data Streams Unequally
- Weight your data streams differently so GPS, CMJ, ISO, weight and wellness contribute proportionally to risk.
- Use a 0–10 flag system with GPS carrying three flags, CMJ two, ISO two, weight two and wellness one.