From the 2019 NSCA’s Coaches Conference, Andrew Paul, Senior Athletic Performance Coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the National Basketball Association (NBA), discusses the importance of the emerging role of the dual-credentialed physical therapist/strength and conditioning specialist and identifies communication strategies to help facilitate good relationships and player transitions between the medical and performance teams.

This article provides essential guidelines for athletes beginning a strength and conditioning program that ensures safety and productivity of the training sessions.

Hear from a more than 30-year strength and conditioning coaching veteran in the sport of rugby, Ashley Jones. He talks to NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about his progression in the field, beginning in 1988 to his current roles as part of the NSCA Rugby Special Interest Group, Awards and Honors Committee, and Certification Committee. Jones provides insight on the important roles of NSCA Committees in supporting the integrity of the coaching profession. Learn more about the expanded roles of strength and conditioning coaches in non-mainstream sports, like Rugby in North America, while also helping to support skill and game development. This episode also includes great lessons on program planning within the team setting and how to emphasize the “human element” in coaching. You can contact Ashley by email at ashley@ashleyjonesstrengthcoach.com| Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

Competence, autonomy, and relatedness are three keys to promoting a more intrinsically motivated athlete. These components can be combined in nearly limitless ways, which is especially important for the long basketball season.

Youth practitioners need to be aware of the competing demands on young athletes’ lives in order to help them effectively balance these demands. Wellness provides a reference point that can be used to better understand the competing demands placed on youngsters by identifying the six dimensions of wellness.

CC22

This excerpt from Developing Speed aims to develop athletes’ ability to accelerate quickly through stride modification.

This NSCA Coach article examines the importance of hip-shoulder separation on performance in baseball pitching. Visit NSCA online to read more on athletic performance and sport science.

The aim of the get up and go drill for rugby players is to develop the ability to accelerate from a low body position, which is especially important when accelerating into a potential contact situation.

Joe Kenn, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Carolina Panthers, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about… well… a little bit of everything.