The Seattle Sounders lost one of their MLS originals on Wednesday, when the club announced that high performance director David Tenney is leaving the team to join the NBA’s Orlando Magic in the same role.
Tenney was hired in January 2009 prior to the Sounders’ first season in MLS, and has led the club’s sports science and fitness efforts since the club joined the league.
One of the most respected minds in international sports science, he implemented both the Catapult GPS program that measures player movement in training and matches and the Omegawave technology that tests players’ heart rate variability and state of readiness before and after playing. He also founded Sounders FC Sports Science Weekend in 2011, an annual event in Seattle that has brought together some of the top sports science professionals from around the world.
“As someone who has been with us since the very beginning, Dave has been an instrumental part of this club and we’re very sad to see him go,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said in a statement released by the club. “As one of the top sports science professionals in the business, he has contributed a lot to our success over the years, and I have no doubt he’ll do the same in his new role with the Magic. I wish him all the very best in the next chapter of his professional life. He has left Sounders FC much stronger than when he joined us nine years ago, and for that we are thankful.”
Currently sitting in second in the West, Seattle will play at sixth-place Real Salt Lake on Saturday night (9:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
