SATURDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2027
Location: Buford High School
2455 Buford Hwy NE, Buford GA 30518
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:
OUR SPEAKERS
Donnie Maib
Donnie Maib has been the Director of Olympic Sports Athletic Performance since 2011. Maib oversees all aspects of athletic performance efforts for all sports at the University of Texas with the exception of Football.
He came to the University of Texas after four years at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he worked as an assistant with all varsity sports.
From 1998-2007 Maib was an assistant coach at the University of Texas working primarily with football and various other Olympic sports – Women’s Track & Field, Women’s Golf, Men’s Golf, Men’s Tennis, Soccer, & Volleyball. In 2007 He was promoted to Associate Coach for Football.
Maib is certified by the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association. He was honored at 8th Annual National Conference of the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association in May 2008 with the certification of Master Strength and Conditioning Coach (MSCC), the highest honor for a coach in the strength and conditioning field.
C.J. Stockel
Coach C.J. Stockel has 39 years of experience in coaching and education, serving as Head Strength Coach at seven Georgia schools where he also coached varsity football, basketball, baseball, golf, and track and field. A 1989 USA Weightlifting Level 1 Certification recipient, Coach Stockel has developed multiple Youth and Junior National Champions, including 10 Youth and Junior International Team members and medal winners. He served as Head Coach of the 1999 USA Weightlifting Youth National Team, the 2003 Youth Pan American Team, and the 2005 and 2006 Junior Pan American Teams. He also directed the 2003 American Open, the 2008 Olympic Trials, and multiple Youth National Championships. In 2005, he co-founded Team Georgia Weightlifting with Coach Stan Luttrell to expand Olympic Weightlifting into Georgia High Schools and educate coaches on Olympic Weightlifting technique and programming. He has instructed more than 60 USA Weightlifting Certification courses and served as Chairman of the USA Weightlifting Board of Directors from 2015–2016. His track and field teams won three region championships, and he coached two state record holders at Model High School.
Coach Stockel was inducted into the National High School Strength Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2022, and received the GISA Master Teacher title in the summer of 2026. He was also named USA Weightlifting Developmental Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2004, was runner-up for the U.S. Olympic Committee's Developmental Coach of the Year in 1999, and received the 2004 Samson High School Coach of the Year award from American Football Monthly
Erik Jernstrom
Erik Jernstrom was promoted to Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning/RTP Specialist in January 2025.
Jernstrom joined the Falcons after spending the last three years as an adjunct professor at Linfield University in Oregon. He was also on the NSCA Board for the state of Oregon.
Jernstrom also served as the Director of Sports Performance at EForce Sports from 2015-24 where he worked closely with physical therapists and sports medicine to develop an integrated performance model for athlete development. He started his career as a strength and conditioning intern at Performance Training Center (Mark McLaughlin) in Portland, Ore., in 2015. Jernstrom earned his bachelor's degree from Oregon State University in 2016.
Ryan Liccardo
With a background in Corrective Exercise and professional experience in physical therapy, Coach Liccardo brings a comprehensive understanding of human movement, injury prevention, rehabilitation, and athletic performance to strength and conditioning. His coaching philosophy emphasizes developing well-rounded athletes through purposeful training, sound movement mechanics, and individualized programming designed to maximize performance while reducing the risk of injury. He believes in building a strong foundation that allows athletes to compete at the highest level while developing discipline, confidence, and a lifelong appreciation for physical fitness.
He served as the Head Strength Coach at St. Pius X Catholic High School for four years, overseeing strength and conditioning for all varsity sports at the largest private high school in Georgia. Coach Liccardo has spent the last five years as the Head Strength Coach at Buford High School, where he develops athletes and programs that achieved multiple State Championships, two National Championships in Softball and a National Football Championship. Throughout his career, he has been committed to building a culture of excellence, accountability, and competitive success while helping athletes reach their full potential both on and off the field.
Dr. Dylan Firsick
Dr. Dylan Firsick joined the Georgia Athletic Association in 2021 as the Director of Mental Health and Performance.
Dr. Firsick is a sport psychologist and certified mental performance consultant accredited by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). Prior to joining the UGA Athletics Association, Dr. Firsick spent 6.5 years at the University of Southern California (2015-2021) serving as clinical and sport psychologist in the athletics department and a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Keck Medicine of USC. He was also an adjunct assistant professor in the marriage and family therapy program at USC Rossier School of Education. He completed a pre-doctoral internship in health service psychology in USC’s Counseling and Mental Health (CMH) Services (2015-16) and a clinical sport psychology postdoctoral fellowship in the USC Athletics Department the following year (2016-17). Dr. Firsick maintains a small private practice focused on sport performance and athlete development for athletes from childhood to professional.
He received his doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Northern Colorado in 2016, his master’s in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado Denver in 2011, and his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Biola University in 2009 where he was a member of the Men’s Soccer team. He is a licensed psychologist by the California Board of Psychology and the Georgia State Board of Examiners of Psychology.
Cate Herrmans
Cate Herrmans joined the University of Georgia Athletic Association in Spring of 2022 as the Assistant Director of Football Nutrition and was promoted to the Director of Football Nutrition in 2025.
Herrmans oversees the nutrition care of football student athletes to optimize their performance. By overseeing the total nutrition intake of the student athletes, she guides the players to ensure their health and achieve balanced diets to accommodate the players’ performance.
Before her time at UGA, she attended Johnson & Wales University and received her Bachelor’s in Culinary Nutrition in 2019. Later she attended Florida State University, where she received her Master’s in Sports Nutrition and Exercise Physiology in 2021.
SCHEDULE:
6:45- 9:00am Check-In and On-Site Registration (coffee, breakfast snacks)
7:45- 8:00am - Welcome, Intros, and Sponsor Acknowledgements
8:00- 8:50am - Buford High School: Ryan Liccardo:
9:00- 9:50am - Atlanta Falcons: Erik Jernstrom: NFL Return To Play Run Frameworks: A Collaborative Approach
10:00- 10:50am - Georgia: Dr. Dylan Firsick:
11:00- 11:50am - USA Weightlifting Weight Room Practical: CJ Stockel- The Proper Technique & Athletic Benefits of Teaching the Power Clean: A Hands On Approach
12:00- 1:30pm - Lunch (TBA)- Visit Vendors, Breakout Session and Network
SPONSORED BY MATRIX FITNESS
1:30- 2:20pm - Texas: Donnie Maib
2:30- 3:20pm -
3:30- 4:30pm - Georgia: Cate Herrmans: Optimizing Performance: Georgia’s Approach To Hydration, Recovery, and GameDay Nutrition
4:30pm: Closing Remarks/CEU Certificates: Eric Lougas
Schedule and speakers subject to change.