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Orlando Magic name David Tenney as High Performance Director

By Philip Rossman-Reich

SEATTLE, WA - NOVEMBER 18: Mauro Rosales #10 (L) and assistant coach David Tenney of the Seattle Sounders FC walk off the pitch after the match against the Los Angeles Galaxy during Leg 2 of the Western Conference Championship at CenturyLink Field on November 18, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. The Galaxy defeated the Sounders 2-1, winning the aggregate playoff 4-2. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - NOVEMBER 18: Mauro Rosales #10 (L) and assistant coach David Tenney of the Seattle Sounders FC walk off the pitch after the match against the Los Angeles Galaxy during Leg 2 of the Western Conference Championship at CenturyLink Field on November 18, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. The Galaxy defeated the Sounders 2-1, winning the aggregate playoff 4-2. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images) /
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The Orlando Magic showed their willingness to invest in their basketball operations, hiring David Tenney as their High Performance Director.

The Orlando Magic hired Seattle Sounders High Performance Director David Tenney as the team’s new High Performance Director, the team announced Wednesday.

This move was a signal of the investment the Magic’s basketball operations seemed ready and willing to make after hiring president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman this summer. Magic CEO Alex Martins said after hiring Jeff Weltman the team planned to reinvest more in its basketball operations. It was then symbolized in hiring John Hammond as general manager, adding more experience to the front office.

Now, with the season coming up, the Magic seem to be putting the finishing touches on this basketball staff. And they are looking to create every advantage they can. That is what hiring Tenney is really about.

High Performance Director sounds like a bit of a confusing title. It is not exactly clear from the title itself what his role with the team will be. But Tenney has been at the cutting edge of sports science and working to get the most from his players’ performance throughout his nine seasons with the Sounders. He served as a sports science and fitness manager with the team and a head fitness coach for the team before that.

The Sounders credit Tenney’s work with helping the team win the MLS Cup in 2016 and reach four consecutive U.S. Open Cup championship games from 2009-12.

As the NBA, and other sports organizations, look for new ways to create an edge, sports science is certainly a field that is growing more and more.

"“Being successful in an organization is about building culture, growing things slowly, making good decisions as a group,” Tenney told Ryan Krasnoo of SoundersFC.com Wednesday. “The department we’ve created here has always evolved as the demands of the coaches and the sport and the athletes have changed. It’s about creating infrastructure that’s science-driven that slowly builds and evolves based on the demands of the athletes and the coaches there.”"

This field is growing more and more. The Magic certainly are investing in it, grabbing one of the best in the entire sports world.

Among other things, Tenney hosts an annual Sounders FC Sports Science Weekend. He is considered at the forefront of emerging sports science technologies. It made sense the Magic targeted him.

Among the tasks Tenney researched and monitored were ways to keep players healthy and improve performance.

The Magic have used Catapult, a device that monitors several data points for several years. It supposedly can detect changes in physical performance using GPS monitoring and measurements of impact and jump force. This was the Magic’s initial foray into the new world of sports science.

Tenney was one of the first coaches and training staff managers to implement Catapult to measure player movement. He also helped develop the Omegawave technology to test players’ heart rate variability before and after games.

He has been one of the leaders in gathering information to use to predict player performance and potential injury.

Next: 5 promising statistics for the Orlando Magic in 2018

The Magic hiring him was quite possibly hiring the best person in his field. One thing is for sure, the Magic are indeed making a deeper investment in their basketball operations. Now they just have to see it translate to the court.