Mike Potenza is Director of High Performance at the San Jose Sharks, his second spell with the organisation. He oversees the strength and conditioning and nutrition staff for the Sharks and their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, and is the link between the performance and medical teams.
He returned in 2024 after two years as Director of Performance at the Golden State Warriors, where he ran performance testing, built player-specific training programmes and worked with the coaching staff on training and practice schedules.
Before the Warriors, Mike spent 16 years as Director of Strength and Conditioning at the Sharks (2006 to 2022). During that time he was vice president (2015 to 2019) and then president (2019 to 2022) of the Strength and Conditioning Association of Professional Hockey, now the Professional Hockey Performance Organization.
He started out at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2003 to 2006), working with the men’s and women’s hockey teams, both NCAA national champions in 2006, plus wrestling and softball.
Away from hockey, Mike has consulted on the design of the human performance programme for US Air Force Pararescue teams in California and Alaska. He’s also co-founder of Metabolic Elite, a supplement and education company built around the needs of high performers.
