The purpose of this article is to explore trauma-related mental health issues and help human performance professionals more effectively train tactical athletes.

How do you build a sustainable high-performance culture despite yearly assistant coach rotations and demanding schedules? Alice Read, Assistant Athletic Director for Sport Performance at Vassar College, shares expertise from managing 29 teams and 600 student-athletes while continuously "riding the rollercoaster" of Division III scheduling. Read explores strategies for maintaining program continuity, including matching assistant coaches to sports based on strengths and growth areas. She emphasizes advocating for daily staff lifts to test and refine programs firsthand. In a full-circle moment, Read, once an NSCA Foundation Assistantship Recipient, now serves on the committee awarding these opportunities, demonstrating the value of early professional involvement. She also discusses collaborative problem solving within the Liberty League Strength and Conditioning Committee and explains how the College Coaches Professional Development Group (PDG) provided boots-on-the-ground guidance for the 2024 NSCA Strategic Plan. Tune in for actionable insights on mentorship, collaboration, and longevity in collegiate strength and conditioning. Connect with Alice via email at aread@vassar.edu and on Instagram: @ajpr3 and @vassar_strong | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

Tactical professionals are often met with jobs that require long periods of sedentary time. This article provides practical strategies for how to minimize the negative impact of chronic sitting for the tactical professional.

This video demonstrates Andy Galpin’s take on Olympic lifting variations for athletes short on time or lacking mobility, which can be used in a group setting.

This excerpt from NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science briefly explains the force-velocity-power profile and how it can give strength and conditioning coaches a more holistic view of athletes.

Strength coaches play a pivotal role in the performance of athletes. In this session from the 2016 NSCA Coaches Conference, Korrey Hammond explains the importance of diversity and inclusion for athletes at any level, as they are factors that should not be overlooked.

In this hands-on session from the 2019 NSCA Coaches Conference, Scott Charland, Manager of Human Performance for Parkview Health Sports Medicine, introduces his “recipe” for movement patterns that focus on speed development. This can easily be placed into a warm-up session prior to a conditioning workout or sport practice.

High knee drills help develop coordinated front-side mechanics and are often used as part of a warm-up. This article details several high knee drills that you can use with your athletes.

The extent to which a special operator’s training schedule can be planned in advance is often limited due to their unpredictable operational demands. However, there may be opportunities to plan for specific training during certain periods.

This column outlines a combat readiness framework that integrates physical conditioning to strengthen cognitive performance. Visit NSCA online to learn more about tactical training and mental health.