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# Iron Game Chalk Talk 2.0
- URL: https://adamringler.com/iron-game-chalk-talk/
- Published: 2022-01-05T14:44:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-13T01:13:52.000Z
- Description: In this episode of Iron Game Chalk Talk 2.0, I sit down with Isaiah Castilleja to talk about sport science and some of the exciting things we're doing at University of Colorado Boulder
- Author: Adam Ringler
- Tags: Blog, Sport Science

In this episode of Iron Game Chalk Talk 2.0, I sit down with Isaiah Castilleja to talk about:

- How growing up in a generation, that was on the forefront of new technology, started my passion of sports science.
- How old school S&C and new School Sports Science can work together to create something special
- And how some simple and cost-effective sports science modalities can make the biggest impact for your program.

## Key Takeaways From The Conversation

Growing up in a generation on the forefront of new technology wired me to love sport science early. But two decades of coaching taught me where it actually belongs. Here are the themes Isaiah and I dug into.

**1\. Old School Meets New School.** There is a false war in this profession between the old school weight room and the new school data lab. I reject it. The best programs I have been part of run both at full power: barbells and force plates, coaching eyes and dashboards. Coaching is a process and an art, deeply rooted in science but lived in the person. Work the objective and the subjective together. That is where the best decisions live.

**2\. Simple Modalities, Biggest Impact.** You do not need a six-figure budget to practice good sport science. The highest-return tools are the simple, cost-effective ones: jump testing, wellness questionnaires, bar speed, basic load tracking. Chase clarity, not complexity. A simple system executed with consistency beats an elaborate one nobody uses. Start with what answers a real coaching question, then expand only when the questions outgrow the tools.

**3\. Bridge The Gap.** The job of sport science is to bridge the gap between where the athletes are and where the coaches want them to be. Data must produce decisions, not reports. Every metric you collect should end in a Monday morning action: adjust the load, change the drill, pull the athlete aside. If a number does not change what you do, stop collecting it or start asking better questions.

**4\. Stay A Student.** Technology will keep evolving, and so should you. The coaches who last are the ones who never stop learning: new tools, new research, new perspectives, tested against the unforgiving standard of "does this help my athletes?" Curiosity is a competitive advantage. Keep experimenting, keep measuring, and keep the athlete at the center of all of it. At the beginning, the middle, and the end, it is about the athlete and the progress made.

## Where To Start If Your Budget Is Zero

Every coach listening to this is at a different resource level, so here is the honest starting point. Pick one question you actually need answered: Are my athletes recovering? Is the training load appropriate? Who is ready to push today? Then pick the simplest tool that answers it reliably. A daily wellness questionnaire costs nothing and, done consistently, will tell you more than a dusty GPS unit ever will.

Run your program like a training lab. Try something small, measure whether it changed a decision, and keep what earns its place. That is how I built sport science systems at every stop in my career: start simple, prove value, then scale. The coaches who wait for the perfect budget never start. The ones who start simple are dangerous within a year.