The thought of “publishing” may conjure up images of hours spent typing away at a computer, or perhaps a good old-fashioned printing press, but the Video Journal of Sports Medicine (VJSM) recognizes the evolving landscape of sports medicine research.
As one of the first video journals to be indexed in PubMed, VJSM is at the cutting edge of scholarly inquiry, providing a modern platform for visual research and technique-based publication. To celebrate and support the future of multimedia research, VJSM hosts an annual competition, the VJSM Fellows Video Challenge. Now in its second year, this competition sees fellows and residents from across the country vie for top honors.
Out of almost 30 submissions, 10 videos were selected to be finalists for the live portion of the event, hosted at the 2025 AOSSM Annual Meeting in Nashville. Finalists had three minutes to present an ‘elevator pitch’ version of their research video, followed by a Q&A with a panel of seasoned judges from the AOSSM Publishing Advisory Board. Below, our three 2025 Winners share their experience.
Zachary Braig, MD, 1st Place Winner, “Workin' 9 to 5: Reproducible Acetabular Labral Reconstruction”
“It was a pleasure to participate in the VJSM Fellow's Challenge this year! As our group at the University of Virgina refined a reproducible technique for acetabular labral reconstruction throughout the past year, we were excited to showcase it. The video format that VJSM uses is the perfect medium for an article like this, and it helped us explain the complex details of the technique clearly. It was a fun challenge to boil it down to a three-minute live presentation for the VJSM Fellows Video Challenge, and it was awesome to see the other techniques presented by fellows across the country. I look forward to attending this event at AOSSM for many years ahead!”
Zachary Braig, MD
University of Virginia
Jelle P. van der List, MD, PhD, MBA, 2nd Place Winner, “Arthroscopic Debridement of Proximal Patellar Tendinopathy in Athletes”
“The VJSM Fellows Challenge was a great experience this year. The challenge is already a well-known concept among faculty members and fellowship directors, and you have to think carefully which technique is well-suited for this challenge.
I chose our technique of arthroscopic treatment of proximal patellar tendinopathy for this year's submission. The submission is very complete as it challenges you to review the literature, make it clear to the audience why this technique is important, why it is currently underutilized, and what the key steps are for a successful outcome to our patients. On top of that, you have to make an 8-to-10-minute video that later needs to be narrowed down to only 3 minutes. And finally, you have to present this video with live narration to a highly esteemed and incredible panel. Overall, it was a great experience, and I recommend it to any fellow in 2026!"
Jelle P. van der List, MD, PhD, MBA
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Matthew Kolevar, MD, 3rd Place Winner, “Biceps Anterior Cable Reconstruction for Massive Rotator Cuff Tears”
“VJSM is a great avenue to share interesting techniques. For me, sports medicine fellowship is about picking up new tips and tricks from expert surgeons and learning complex procedures. VJSM is a fun way to share the cool things I have learned with other people.
Describing a procedure with only written text or pictures is actually really hard, especially if you expect others to try and implement your technique. When I put together a video, I find it helpful to write from the perspective of a learner. What were the critical portions of the case and the steps that I found confusing at first? Then I hammer those out in detail in a way that makes sense as a trainee, so others can learn too. The VJSM Fellows Video Challenge was a fun way to learn from my peers and share cutting-edge techniques. I definitely recommend submitting a video to next year’s challenge!”
Matthew Kolevar, MD
University of Pittsburgh
Many thanks to all the fellows and residents that participated in this year’s challenge! Be sure to check out their videos in VJSM throughout the coming months, and stay tuned for the 2026 Challenge, launching early next year. Interested in submitting a video article? Visit https://journals.sagepub.com/home/VJS
The Video Journal of Sports Medicine (VJSM®), an open-access, PubMed-indexed video journal founded in 2021, is an official peer-reviewed publication of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and is supported by many international partner societies. The journal publishes multimedia video-based articles with complementary written material, publishing on topics of interest to orthopaedic surgeons specializing in sports medicine and arthroscopy, sports physicians, athletic trainers, and physiotherapists. Topics of interest include the full spectrum of athlete care, from presurgical to rehabilitation and injury prevention.
