Board Member Profile: Matt Parvis
Director of Tactical & Elite Performance at BridgeAthletic, Inc.
Matt Parvis has served the human performance industry in a variety of capacities for twenty years including for private, collegiate, and professional sports organizations. Furthermore, he has spent the last decade centered on the special operations military community through coaching, program management, and technology-related roles. He holds BS and MS degrees from West Virginia University, an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, and numerous strength and conditioning-related certifications. He currently serves as the Tactical and Elite Performance Director at fitness company BridgeAthletic, Inc., dedicated to developing high-performance training tools for coaches, trainers, physical therapists, and athletes who strive to achieve their potential.
We spoke with Matt to learn more about his perspective on the Tactical Athlete. Here is what he had to say:
(TA-LB): The themes of the Tactical Athlete Leadership Board are Readiness, Resilience, and Recovery. From your perspective, why are these themes important, and what about them resonates with your experience in the human performance industry?
(Matt): Readiness, Resilience, and Recovery are critical aspects of success in both physical and cognitive performance because obstacles will always be present at home, at work, and everyday life. Optimization of these three pillars helps individuals and groups maintain a higher standard in everything they do which means the more people who strive for this, the better off everyone will be.
(TA-LB): Looking to the future, what technological innovation do you think will have the most significant impact on tactical athletes?
(Matt): Tactical athletes will benefit from a collection of technology rather than a singular device or algorithm. Humans are extremely complex and will require a flexible system that can adapt to their needs. With that said, an exciting new application of an existing technology within biofeedback/neurofeedback [that] is gaining traction is the tactical space. This technology includes optimization of brain function, which transcends all aspects of physical and cognitive performance.
(TA-LB): The spirit of the TALB is to bring a diverse set of perspectives to the table aligned toward a singular purpose: to sustain the tactical athlete of today and prepare for the tactical athlete of tomorrow. Why is it essential for the broader human performance industry to work together towards this end?
(Matt): A multi-disciplinary team is the best way to solve very complex problems, such as tactical athlete optimization. Specialists’ knowledge can and does overlap, but it takes a group effort to cover the entire spectrum required for true achievement of the end goal.
(TA-LB): What is the greatest challenge to innovation in the human performance sector?
(Matt): Time is the biggest challenge factor we face in human performance. Sport athletes careers are short and tactical athletes (especially the military) often have competing priorities that cannot be ignored. High quality data collection with a statistically relevant sample size is hindered by the time available.