NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- As the 2021-22 academic year approaches, there is a palpable sense of excitement surrounding Yale Athletics. That's due in no small part to the way the Yale Sports Performance Department -- which has played a key role in so many teams' recent successes -- has been re-engineered to better serve student-athletes and coaches.
 
At the forefront of the changes is Anthony "TJ" Belanger, who was promoted to Director of Sports Performance & Student-Athlete Innovation at the end of April. Belanger has been a part of the staff since 2017. As he moved into his new role, he knew how to build and improve many of the systems that were already in place. 
 
That started with re-organizing the staffing to play to each person's strengths. Having worked directly with nearly a dozen teams while also building Yale's nationally accredited internship program and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the weight room, Belanger knew what he was looking for from his colleagues. He made sure to structure their roles accordingly. 
 
"These promotions are a testament to the great staff we have in place and have hired," said Belanger. "Their commitment to offering our student-athletes the best training possible is clear in everything they do."  
 
Rachel Hodgson, whose time at Yale dates to an internship in 2018, is now Director of Weight Room Logistics and Operations. Wayne Newman is now Director of the Yale Sports Performance Internship Program -- the same program that he got his start in back in 2018. The newest full-time hire, Director of Sports Performance Quality Control Abby Quinn, came on board this spring after a stint at Notre Dame. Teofe Ziemnicki, who started as an intern in 2017 before working his way up to assistant strength and conditioning coach, is now Director of Sports Science and Data Analytics. New additions Trey Hall and Alex Mowatt-Larssen round out the staff in assistant roles. 
 
The staff changes come at a time when the Bulldogs are also expanding their facilities. The recently constructed Tsai Lacrosse Field House includes a weight room that -- combined with existing facilities in Payne Whitney Gym and at Ingalls Rink -- gives Yale Sports Performance the space for more than 110 student-athletes to train simultaneously. 
 
"One of the biggest things that's been improved by having the addition of new and state-of-the-art facilities is we are doing our best to work with the hardest resource here for Yale student-athletes -- their time," said Belanger. "Having three varsity training rooms is helpful for the student-athletes in the sense that it provides more options."
 
Belanger's years with the Bulldogs have taught him the value of scheduling. Hodgson is now the one charged with overseeing that.
 
"Having Rachel manage the many moving parts of our weight rooms from scheduling to equipment will allow us to run an even more efficient operation and in turn it will allow us to give our student-athletes the best training possible," said Belanger.
 
Having played a key role in the careers of so many of Yale's full-time Sports Performance staffers, the internship program supports the staffing necessary to give proper attention to each of the Bulldogs' student-athletes and teams. Newman oversees that part of the operation, which typically consists of anywhere from five to 15 interns each season.
 
All three recent hires -- Hall, Mowatt-Larssen and Quinn -- initially came to Yale as interns recruited by Newman.
 
While Belanger and the Sports Performance staff are proud of what they have accomplished in recent years -- including helping Yale teams win 13 Ivy League titles since he arrived in 2017 -- they also know the value of bringing in a fresh perspective. That is where Quinn comes in. In addition to her recent time at Notre Dame, she has interned with an NBA G League team and was a graduate assistant strength coach for the Gannon women's basketball team while getting her master's degree. She initially worked with Belanger last fall, so he was familiar with her from that stint.
 
In addition to facilities and personnel, data is very much a part of the Sports Performance Department's formula for success. Ziemnicki's new title is designed to gear his job duties and assignments toward that area, which has come naturally to him. Belanger noted that Ziemnicki taught himself how to create dashboards and graphs specific to the department's needs. 
 
"Where Teofe's expertise is monumental for us is he provides us with different and better ways to interpret the data we have collected and use it to evaluate everything we are doing training-wise," said Belanger. "This helps the coaches visualize things easier and in turn leads to a more productive and collaborative approach."
 
An individual connection with each student-athlete is critical to the department's approach. Each staff member has a set of Yale teams that she or he works directly with, getting to know the student-athletes on multiple levels so that their training can be adjusted accordingly.
 
"We do the same thing that Yale does: we offer you options," Belanger said. "Student-athletes attend Yale for the world-class education and to compete at the highest level. The way we handle their training and performance is individualized to achieve the best results."
 
While there have been plenty more success stories on an individual and team level, Belanger feels the best is yet to come from the Yale Sports Performance Department.
 
"I'm very excited about the future of this department, and the staff we have," Belanger said. "This is an evolution and we are just getting started."