In this episode of the ACES Optimus Podcast, Dr. Craig Morris sits down with renowned athletic trainer and performance specialist Dave Boyer, ATC, MS, CSCS to unpack a career defined by reinvention. Together, they reminisce about their days of working together along with Sports Orthopedist Dr. Rick Lehman to treat and train professional ice hockey players for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.
Along the way, they explore the power of mentorship, the mindset behind excellence in any role, and why true performance cannot be separated into “physical” and “mental” buckets. Dave also reveals how personal loss and the disruption of COVID became a turning point, leading him to pursue a master’s in sports psychology and build a more integrated model of athlete care that blends rehab, strength and conditioning, and mental performance into one holistic approach.
If you are an athlete, clinician, coach, or high performer navigating change, this conversation is a reminder that resilience is built, not born, and the ability to adapt is often the difference between stalling out and leveling up.
