Where passion meets performance: the people shaping what CoachMePlus delivers.
A Day at CoachMePlus for Kelly Hines
My name is Kelly Hines, and I’m wrapping up my internship here at CoachMePlus. Each day here is spent at the intersection of data and human performance. My work focuses on handling large datasets, helping tactical personnel and athletes integrate technology, and building dashboards that give coaches and practitioners a clear, actionable view of health and readiness.
“Each day, I worked at the intersection of data and human performance.”
Kelly Hines’ Road to CoachMePlus
Like many of my colleagues, my passion for human performance started on the field. My interests in holistic care evolved across my four years as a Division-1 soccer student-athlete, when three major surgeries kept me in the athletic training room more than on the pitch. Inspired to support the health and performance of other athletes, I spent a semester as a strength and conditioning intern, gaining hands-on experience, and then assisted with body composition and hydration research in athletes, exposing me to technology and communication.
As a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative, my interest continued to grow as I advocated for student-athlete health and wellness, leading me to switch from physical therapy school to a master’s degree at Texas A&M in sports physiology.
I had the opportunity to be a sports science graduate intern for Texas A&M Olympic Sports, where my mentor Scott Battley (Director of Sports Science) gave me insights into real-world applications of data-based approaches, force plates, inertial measurement units (IMUs), GPS devices, hydration trackers, and scientific communication.
Hands-on experiences with athletes and tactical personnel shaped my evidence-based approach to human performance.
During this time, I also worked with tactical populations, which sparked my interest in supporting them. This led to my master’s thesis which examined recovery and performance markers after the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets and Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). In addition, I served on the executive board for the Tactical Athlete Research Unit, which focused on stress and cardiometabolic markers in local first responders. These experiences made me realize I wanted to support tactical personnel with the same data/evidence-based approach I used when supporting student athletes.
My introduction to CoachMePlus occurred during a Major League Baseball (MLB) summer internship, where we used it for pitcher arm care. When I pursued a PhD opportunity in environmental physiology at SUNY Buffalo, Dr. Bryan Mann reached out to CoachMePlus’ president Kevin Dawidowicz to coordinate the internship.
Present Day at CoachMePlus
During my internship, I was grateful to continue pursuing my goal of supporting people holistically through data-driven decision-making. I was immersed in a system that empowers athletes, firefighters, military personnel, and practitioners through structured communication and tailored dashboards.
This experience gave me the chance to see both the similarities and differences between athletes and tactical personnel, while deepening my skills in creating dashboards that address individual roles yet still convey a unified picture of health and readiness. Building on my prior interest in hydration, I especially appreciated learning about CoachMePlus’s unique approach to integrating hydration and nutrition into dashboards, offering real-time insights that shape critical decisions such as those within the Army’s H2F program.
As I prepare to begin my PhD, I am thankful for the opportunity to reflect on how much I have grown as both a researcher and sports scientist. This internship taught me how the way data is presented can influence the conclusions drawn from it, as well as how to handle large datasets in meaningful ways that support decision making, promote wellness, and enhance performance. I was able to see firsthand how technology can be integrated to support not only tactical personnel, but also occupational workers such as miners and construction teams.
Data presentation isn’t just numbers. It drives decision-making, readiness, and wellness outcomes.
Beyond CoachMePlus for Kelly
CoachMePlus provided knowledge and a great community, and I am excited to integrate physiological tracking and performance metrics into my research to support occupational and tactical populations. As I wrap up my CoachMePlus internship, I am so thankful for the opportunity as I have been able to see the end goal of what I have worked towards and the extra insights it has provided me into the real-world application of physiological tracking.
This internship showed me the real-world impact of physiological tracking for both athletes and tactical populations.
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