Warehouse Athletes
Neil Ruffini
Neil began his hockey career in Southern Michigan, playing Tier 1 for Detroit Little Caesars, Detroit Compuware, and Detroit HoneyBaked. Neil attended Prep School at Proctor Academy, notching 128 points in 65 games over two seasons with the Hornets in the New England Prep Hockey League. Collegiate Division 1 Hockey at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Competing in 115 NCAA contests with 37 points, including 18 goals and 19 assists.
Coach Ruffini currently coaches as an assistant coach with the Cherry Creek Hockey Association JV/Tier II team and is the Creek Creek Hockey Skills director. He began his coaching career in Atlanta, GA, for the Atlanta Fire Squirt AAA team in the 2012-2013 season. Since moving to Colorado, Ruffini has coached Arapahoe 8U, Squirt AA & Peewee AA. He was also the assistant coach with the Team Colorado U16 AAA team in the 2019-2020 season. Ruffini has also coached with Popovic Hockey Elite Hockey Academy and Aces Academy in Littleton, CO.
Neil is the Owner/Director of Warehouse Athletes LLC Training Company.
Apogee Hockey
Shannon Valerio
Shannon Valerio, MA, CSCS, is a former world class speed skater. She began competing at the age of seven and quickly rose to the national ranks, at one point having the fastest 100m of all women in the country. During her 20-year career in short-track and inline speed skating, she competed internationally, amassed 14 national titles and eventually landed a contract with a professional racing team. While in college, she took a brief hiatus to play hockey for the University of Denver Women’s team, where she played under exceptional coaches, eventually becoming a player-coach herself.
In 2010 she began training NCAA and professional hockey players off-ice part-time. In 2016 she formed Valerio Speed and Power Skating, now a division of Apogee Hockey, and made her way back to the ice, working with elite athletes by sharing on and off-ice skating methods learned during her time as an athlete at the Olympic Training Center. Over the past 10 years, she has coached high school, NCAA D1 and Stanley Cup champions, combining speed-specific training with hockey tactics she learned as both a high-level player and a student of the game.
Core Mental Performance
William King | Jill Low | Jonathan Mills
At Core Mental Performance, our mission is to assist athletes in identifying their core values and collaborate on strategies to enhance performance. We work with athletes on their mental game to develop skills that are transferable to everyday life. We take a person-centered approach and believe that being an athlete is only one piece of our clients’ identities. We aim to create respectful and enjoyable environments that are inclusive of all demographics, backgrounds, and performance domains.
Christian Harris
Center for Performance Excellence, University of Denver
Hi, my name is Christian (he/him/his). I am originally from North Carolina, but currently attend the University of Denver where I am a Master's student, studying Sport & Performance Psychology. One of my goals is to one day work as a consultant or psychologist for the New Zealand All Blacks. Fun fact: I have been playing rugby for almost a decade now.
Srujana Gummalla
Center for Performance Excellence, University of Denver
Srujana, originally from Mumbai, India, is currently pursuing her Master’s in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Denver. Srujana grew up playing various sports, while being a competitive dancer, and also represented her state at the National level for High Jump.
As an aspiring CMPC, Srujana is devoted to harnessing her passion for sport, performance, and psychology in providing mental performance consulting to performers that aspire for improvement, meaning, and excellence in their domain. She believes in understanding her client as a human being, beyond their identity as a performer, and encourages her clients to find purpose and enjoyment in what they do. She wishes to one day, make services accessible and affordable to underserved populations. Srujana is passionate about advocating for DEI in Performance Psychology, and through her work, hopes to make the field more inclusive, and representative of the cultures around the world.
Fun Fact: She can guess your Zodiac Sign without knowing your birth date!