(Ep054) Keith D’Amelio: Inside the Raptors Locker Room After Kobe’s 81 Points, Getting NBA Veterans to Buy In & Why Sports Tech Will Never Replace Human Experts
In basketball as in life it pays to be both lucky and good. When he was studying for an exercise science degree at ASU, one of Keith D’Amelio’s professors assigned him an interview with an expert in human performance. Keith selected a member of the Phoenix Suns performance staff, who agreed to give him an internship the next school year if he could gain some basketball experience in the meantime. So Keith talked his way into working the summer league for the Boston Celtics. When he reconnected with the Suns in the fall, the internship was gone, but his hard work led to Boston offering him a position when he graduated.
After five seasons with the Celtics, Keith was offered an assistant athletic trainer position with the Toronto Raptors. When the head S&C coach left, he recommended that Keith take his place and so at age 26, Keith became the youngest head strength coach in the league. Quickly learning the ropes, he helped the Raptors roster be one of the most durable in the NBA and combined a person first-and evidence-based approach that he later applied with Stanford men’s basketball. For the past decade, Keith has served as Director of Performance at Nike.
In this episode, Keith shares:
What it was like in the Raptors locker room after Kobe dropped 81 points
Why sports tech will never replace human expertise and connection
How defining his coaching philosophy helped bring order to the chaos of his NBA roles
What role connection and communication play in earning athletes’ trust and buy in
Which elements of youth sport he’d like to see change to re-emphasize fun and learning
Keep up with Keith on his Instagram feed @keith.damelio
