The 2009-10 season commemorates Aaron Nelson’s 16th season with the Phoenix Suns, his tenth as the organization’s head athletic trainer. Before accepting the team’s top post in 2000, Nelson was the club’s assistant athletic trainer for seven seasons under longtime head athletic trainer Joe Proski, who is enshrined in the Suns’ Ring of Honor.

Prior to the NBA, Nelson was a graduate assistant athletic trainer at Arizona State University (ASU) for one year. In addition to a trip to the NBA finals in 1993, he traveled with the Suns later that year to Munich, Germany, for the McDonald’s Open European Basketball Tournament. He returned to ASU for several months in 1998 as assistant athletic trainer. In 2004, Nelson completed an internship with the United States Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, CO.

Well-equipped to provide athletic healthcare, Nelson earned certification credentials from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He is also a member of the Arizona Athletic Trainers’ Association and serves on the performance advisory board of NASM.

A native of Manning, Iowa, Nelson earned an undergraduate degree in physical education with an emphasis in athletic training from Iowa State University in 1992, working under the tutelage of NATA Hall of Famer Frank Randall. In 2004, he received a master’s degree in exercise science with emphasis in health promotion, performance enhancement and injury prevention from the California University of Pennsylvania. Recently, he was appointed to the Arizona Board of Athletic Training by governor Jan Brewer.

Nelson is the brother-in-law of former Suns’ guard Jeff Hornacek. Aaron and his wife Jessica and son Andrew reside in Chandler, AZ.

 

Beginning his seventh season as a member of the Suns’ athletic training staff, Mike Elliott this season enters his first campaign as the club’s head strength and conditioning coach/assistant athletic trainer.  In his role, he is responsible for all aspects of player strength and conditioning and assists Suns Head Athletic Trainer Aaron Nelson with daily recognition, care and treatment of team-related medical issues.

Elliott, who joined the Suns full-time in 2003-04 as assistant athletic trainer, is a certified athletic trainer, performance enhancement specialist (PES) and corrective exercise specialist (CES) from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).  He received his Master of Science in performance enhancement and injury prevention from California University at Pennsylvania in 2005 and did his undergraduate work in exercise science at Arizona State University where he was in the athletic training program under Perry Edinger and former Suns strength coach/assistant athletic trainer and current Dallas Mavericks Head Athletic Trainer Casey Smith.