After an ASU Hockey Player’s Collapse, Scrutiny Falls on Third-Party Military-Style Workouts

Arizona State hockey player Matthew Mayich remains hospitalized after he collapsed during an Aug. 20 offseason training session held at campus facilities. The 21-year-old developed exertional heat stroke, which cut off oxygen to his brain, according to reporting from ESPN, the sports network owned by The Walt Disney Company — shares of which closed at $104.80 on Tuesday, up 0.6% from the prior close of $104.18.

The workout was run by Tim Zeisel, a former Green Beret who is not an ASU employee. Multiple reports indicate the roughly hour-long morning session took place in temperatures near 90 degrees. Zeisel’s attorney told The Arizona Republic that the session — the first of a planned three-day program — was mid-intensity and “not a Green Beret or SEAL workout.” Mayich’s lawyer, Rob Carey, has disputed that characterization.

A Gray Area in Elite Training

Military-inspired conditioning has become a fixture of college and professional sports, though there is no strict definition of what qualifies. Adam Annaccone, a clinical associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas at Arlington and a former associate athletic trainer with the Phoenix Suns, told Front Office Sports that such sessions often feature basic movements like sprints and crawls performed at high volume with limited rest. The goal, he said, is frequently team-building — problem-solving and communication under fatigue — rather than complete physical exhaustion. The Suns used Navy SEAL–led programming during his tenure, he noted.

In Annaccone’s view, danger arises less from the “military” label than from plans that haven’t been vetted against physiological principles or paired with emergency-response protocols. “The body shouldn’t be jeopardized to try to create adversity to then build the leadership component,” he said.

Institutions Hold the Responsibility

The NCAA offers safety guidelines and recommendations for preventing catastrophic exertional illness but does not ban specific conditioning types, instead expecting member schools to follow “evidence-based” procedures. According to Carey, the ASU session did not follow the NCAA’s climate acclimation protocol; Mayich had arrived on campus only days earlier. That framework leaves individual institutions to evaluate plans and establish governance.

The issue is not hypothetical. Tufts overhauled its practices after a September 2024 third-party conditioning session — run by a recent alumnus and current Navy SEAL — left 24 of 61 men’s lacrosse participants with exertional rhabdomyolysis, an acute muscle-injury condition linked to overtraining. The 75-minute workout included 250 burpees and was approved by the school’s director of sport performance the same day it was submitted.

What to watch

• Updates on Matthew Mayich’s medical condition and prognosis.
• Findings from Arizona State’s internal review of the Aug. 20 session.
• Potential legal filings or claims by Mayich’s legal team.
• Any NCAA policy updates on third-party training and climate acclimation requirements.

Source: original release