Training Loads in Mid-Major Basketball – With Henry Barrera, Liberty Men’s Basketball Ep. 3

Welcome to the Firstbeat Sports Podcast where we talk with coaches and sports scientists to explore the latest in performance monitoring and how it is making a difference in NCAA and pro sports alike. We’re going to connect you with practical advice from the best in the business to help you take your athletes to the next level.

Image: Liberty University

On the line today is Henry Barrera. Henry is the Director of Performance for the Liberty Men’s Basketball program, who are heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014 after being crowned Atlantic Sun Conference Champions in their first season in the conference. His 14-year career in coaching and performance training has included stops at Nike World Headquarters, Concordia University and West Linn High School – one of the top programs in the United States. Henry also trains athletes world-wide as part of his basketball and performance training company Hoop Diaries, and runs the Master Minds project connecting coaches on key industry topics.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How to quantify individual training loads
• How Firstbeat metrics are used on a daily basis
• Securing athlete and coach buy-in when monitoring athletes
• The four pillars of performance mindset
• Henry’s unique journey from high school to a mid-major basketball program

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Timestamps:

• How Henry ended up at Liberty University (1:07)
• Jumping from High School to D1 – How was the transition? (4:01)
• Combining Men’s Basketball Director of Performance with Director of S/C in Olympic Sports role – what has changed? (4:53)
• What makes the Liberty experience ‘different’ (6:08)
• Following up 5 losing seasons with 3 straight winning seasons – How? (6:37)
• What qualities does Henry look for in players (7:29)
• Henry explains his Master Minds project (8:14)
• Why Henry chose to go with Firstbeat four years ago (9:47)
• How Henry uses Firstbeat Sports (10:50)
• How is the new athlete buy-in for Firstbeat? (11:46)
• Firstbeat in new Liberty facility (12:31)
• How important is game data for Henry (13:23)
• How did Henry begin to educate the Head Coach about Firstbeat (14:17)
• Head Coach buy in (15:17)
• The future for Liberty Men’s Basketball (15:43)
• The future for Henry Barrera after previous NBA interviews (16:30)
• Cross-sport communication with coaches about player monitoring (17:27)
• What kind of TRIMP numbers does Henry typically see in games (18:15)
• Major talking points in performance training in the future (19:18)

Thanks for listening. Catch up on all previous Firstbeat Sports Podcast episodes here!