MEMPHIS, October 8, 2010 – The Grizzlies named Kelly Lambert as the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced today. Lambert comes to Memphis from the University of Arkansas, where he spent the last nine years with the Razorbacks staff, including the last seven as the basketball program’s strength and conditioning coach.
In his new role with the Grizzlies, Lambert will supervise the off-court conditioning of the players in an effort to enhance their performance through exercises in flexibility, strength, speed and power. He will also assist Grizzlies Head Athletic Trainer Drew Graham with the rehabilitation of injuries and work with Assistant Athletic Trainer/Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach Jim Scholler.
Lambert, who began his career as a volunteer at Arkansas in 2000, later served as the graduate assistant from 2001-03 before becoming the second full-time strength and conditioning coach. The University of Central Arkansas grad assisted with the Razorbacks football team until January 2008 and has also worked with golf, baseball, tennis and track. Under his tutelage, student-athletes at Arkansas broke 15 of 20 all-time school records in lifting, agility and explosiveness tests.
Over the last nine years, Lambert has trained a number of athletes at the collegiate and professional levels, including four-time NBA All-Star Joe Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks, Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden, who was the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2006 and 2007, Dallas Cowboys running back Felix Jones, Chicago Bulls swingman Ronnie Brewer, Toronto Raptors guard/forward Sonny Weems and Miami Heat guard Patrick Beverley.
Lambert has also trained United States Olympic sprinters Tyson Gay, who recorded a gold medal sweep in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4x100-meter relays at the 2007 Osaka World Championships, and Wallace Spearmon, who also took gold in the 4x100-meter event in Osaka, and has also worked with Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and the reigning Olympic 200-meter champion.
The Hampton/Little Rock, Ark. native earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in athletic training at Central Arkansas before earning his master’s degree in sports management from Arkansas in 2003.
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