Ben Bahrami was named Manager, HPA & High Performance Programs in May 2022.
 
(2022-23) Previously serving as McMaster’s Strength & Conditioning Coordinator, Ben was hired at McMaster in 2014 to lead S&C for the basketball, volleyball and swim teams. While developing and building a robust physical development system, improving communication around student support, and experience with various National Teams, including Hockey Canada, Ben was promoted to lead the performance program and start his teaching career as a sessional instructor with the school of Kinesiology in 2016. 
 
During his tenure as the program lead, Bahrami has increased the service model to accommodate 10 additional varsity teams, expanded S&C to four full-time positions from a primarily student-led staff, hosted national team camps, led the design/equipment order/installation of the new High Performance Area. He hopes to continue to build on an already extensive student-athlete support system at McMaster while contributing to the improvement of youth sports in Canada, and has already impacted the lives of countless students, athletes and staff.
 
Ben grew up in North Vancouver after immigrating from Iran at the age of 9. Using sport as a tool to connect with others, his love for sports grew throughout his school years playing football, basketball, and rugby. After winning the Defensive Player of the Year award for B.C. Football in 2007, Ben earned a scholarship at Western University where he went on to play for the Mustangs and graduated with an Honours Specialization degree in Kinesiology. In 2011, Ben moved back to his hometown to continue his education with a Masters of Kinesiology with a coaching specialization at the University of British Columbia. While continuing his football career for the Thunderbirds, Ben received the Special Teams Player of the Year award, and became the inaugural winner of the Strachan Hartley Award for excellence in athletics, academics, and community involvement. While playing at UBC, Ben interned at Level 10 Fitness where he eventually was hired to be a personal trainer working with various clients, schools, and national level programs.

(2022-23) Jon is entering his 8th year as the Performance Coach for the football team and 7th year for the rugby teams at McMaster. Over his years at McMaster Jon has been an integral part in the development of volunteer student coach development. He also worked closely  designing, ordering, and installing the new High Performance Area. Jon looks forward to continuing to develop McMaster Performance's student coach experiential learning experience. 
 
Born in Toronto, Jon played almost every sport under the sun as a child and throughout his youth. Excelling in power based sports like rugby, football and basketball which he played at the club and rep levels. He completed his undergrad at Laurentian University in Sport and Physical Education in 2013. Throughout his time at Laurentian Jon worked as a student intern assisting in the training of many varsity teams. After University Jon traveled to Birmingham, Alabama where he did an internship with the NCAA Div I school Samford University. At Samford, Jon worked closely with the football, basketball, soccer, softball and track teams. After Samford, Jon completed another internship at McMaster before he was hired to take over the football program. During that time, Jon was also hired as the head strength & conditioning coach for the Hamilton Bulldogs OHL team, where he led the program for two years before being brought on full time at McMaster. 
 
Jon’s multi-sport background has allowed him to work with a large range of athletes over the years at a variety of levels. Jon has experience working with national and collegiate teams, OHL, AHL, SHL, NHL and private sector athletes. His most recent experience is getting to train athletes over the course of a quad and watching them achieve their dream of winning gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics with the Hockey Canada Senior Women’s team.

(2022-23) Dylan is entering his 5th year as a Performance Coach with McMaster Performance. For the previous two years, Dylan has been working with the Volleyball and Soccer programs. Previously to this role, Dylan worked with a variety of community teams and individuals as well as helped coordinate the Advanced Fitness school board program. 
 
Born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario, Dylan played competitive baseball and hockey, while also participating in track & field and volleyball at the high school level. He completed his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology at McMaster University where he also played varsity baseball for three seasons, and started volunteering with McMaster Strength & Conditioning. After graduating in 2017, he began his Master’s degree in Professional Kinesiology at Brock University where he assisted the Brock Sports Performance, while also completing an internship opportunity with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach.

Upon graduating in 2018, Dylan was fortunate enough to be hired as a Strength & Conditioning Coach at Velocity Sports Medicine and Training Centre where he worked with primarily youth athletes. Concurrently, Dylan was also hired at McMaster Performance where he worked with community teams, high-school athletes and varsity athletes on a variety of McMaster teams. Dylan is excited to continuing working with the Volleyball and Soccer programs. while also coordinating McMaster Performance Services which provides training opportunities to teams and individuals in the GTHA.

(2022-23) Stuart enters his second year as the Performance Coach for cross country/track, swimming and wrestling. Stuart competed in sport from a young age playing football, soccer and many other sports.
 
He is a graduate of the recreational management program at Acadia, and furthered his education in North Bay, completing a diploma in Strength and Sports Conditioning. As part of the program he obtained his NCCP in Olympic Weightlifting while lifting competitively in the sport himself.

He also interned working with the Canadore College Basketball, Volleyball team and then the Nippissing Nordic Ski Team. He then completed a bridge program with the Limerick Institute of Technology to complete a bachelor of science in Strength and Sport Conditioning. Stuart completed a 600 hour placement with McMaster volunteering with a vast majority of teams.

(2022-23) Alena enters her second year as Student-Staff Development Coach. Alena grew up immersed in sport from a very young age which led her to be a five-year student-athlete playing varsity basketball (four years) and lacrosse (one year) while obtaining her Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology.

Upon graduation, Alena stayed at WLU for two seasons as the head Strength & Conditioning Coach for 13 varsity teams after obtaining her Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist with the NSCA. She then went on to receive her Master’s of Sport Science and Recreation with a distinction in Coaching from Ohio University where she also interned with strength & conditioning working with teams like football, women's basketball, and women's track & field among others.

Following her time at Ohio University, Alena became the full-time Assistant Strength & Conditioning coach at York University working with varsity teams. In 2016, Alena started TRAINING2XL, a professional coaching service for athletes in sport, athletes in life, and movement practitioners, providing coaching and programming for athletes along with education for fellow strength coaches, personal trainers, and movement specialists. Alena has a passion for working with athletes and coaches that aim to excel in the game of life!

(2022-23) Lyanne is entering her first year with McMaster Performance as the Female Performance Intern for this Summer. Lyanne graduated from Brock university with an Honours Bachelor of Kinesiology and Masters of Professional Kinesiology, with the Distinguished Graduate Award. 

During her time at Brock University, Lyanne volunteered with Brock Sports Performance for 4 years working with the Mens’ Rugby and Volleyball teams in their High Performance Centre. In addition to this Lyanne joined the Brock Sports Medicine Student Internship, where she assisted athletes prepare and recover for sports in their athlete clinic. During her Masters, Lyanne was appointed the Return to Play specialist, working with the Athletic Therapists and Performance Coaches to return student athletes to the field following injury. 

Born and raised in Brampton, ON, Lyanne has always been involved  in sports. She found a passion for  Hockey and Lacrosse, which led to her career as a student athlete for 5 seasons with the Brock Women's Field Lacrosse team. This past season Lyanne was fortunate enough to be an assistant coach, and help the team develop both on and off the field. Lyanne is about to embark on her Masters of Physiotherapy at Western University where she hopes to blend the worlds of Strength and Conditioning and Rehabilitation to provide the highest quality of care to all athletes.