For every rim-shaking dunk and ankle-breaking handle, there’s a trainer building a workout plan informed by analytical outputs or a chef partnering with a dietician to design a personal meal plan. As formidable as the Phoenix Suns are, there’s a team behind the team and a game plan that will never see the floor responsible for making the Suns the most complete and entertaining team in the NBA.
"Courtside” is a new content series from the creative storytellers behind the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury. Each episode will take fans behind the scenes of various aspects of our players’ lives and what it takes to keep the best team in the NBA healthy, rested, performing, and looking its absolute best.
The digital series debuts this Friday, February 4th at Courtside.Suns.com.
“We have everything here at the [Verizon 5G] Performance Center that an athlete could wish for,” said Suns GM James Jones for an episode that focuses on the innovative 5G Lab where the Suns and Mercury train. In collaboration with the front office, Verizon has outfitted the facility with more than 100 cameras and sensors designed to provide unprecedented performance and biometric analysis in real-time, making players better, and coaches and trainers smarter.
The basketball oasis that is the Verizon 5G Performance Center serves as the backdrop for much of the series episodes, but fans will also get a unique look at the traveling rest, recovery and training operation that accompanies the team for more than 24 weeks and over 50,000 miles a year, and the men and women who lead it.
How many loads of laundry do the Suns do in an average week? How many pounds of overnight oats and protein pancakes – popular favorites from Chef Brendan – does the team consume? Why are Swedish Fish candies part of Frank Kaminksky’s dietician-approved nutrition?
Upcoming episodes will showcase the importance of technology to drive performance at the Verizon 5G Performance Center, nutrition it takes to fuel more than 35 staff and players by Suns’ Executive Chef Brendan Ayers, the necessity of recovery being equal to or greater than performance, the introduction of the player-designed Valley Threads apparel line, and much more. Whether conditioning, receiving therapy, watching film, dining or relaxing, the series will help audiences realize the full efforts that impact every athlete and the team they love.
“It takes the hardest working team of creative storytellers in sports to keep up with the most relentless collection of athletes, coaches and trainers,” said Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Dean Stoyer. “Trust is as important as the talent for an endeavor like ‘Courtside.’ Fortunately, we have stockpiled an abundance of both.”