Sheri Walters’ journey to Director of Sports Medicine at Texas A&M University reflects a career defined by innovation, collaboration, and comprehensive integration. Walters discusses the "arms race" in collegiate athletics and how Texas A&M shatters silos through unit alignment and being intentionally present. Drawing from her EXOS experience, she highlights the impact of integrating sports medicine with strength and conditioning. Walters employs research-based cross-body training to maintain strength, prioritizing long-term rehabilitation over limb symmetry index testing. She explains how her Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®) and Certified Performance and Sport Scientist® (CPSS®) credentials enable her to elevate rehabilitation and speak the language of sport performance professionals. Walters underscores the importance of getting student-athletes back to team strength and conditioning as soon as tissues can tolerate it to promote physiological and psychological healing. She also shares how strength and conditioning coaches can optimize return to performance and reduce reinjury risk.
Email Sheri at swalters@athletics.tamu.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs
Catch Sheri’s session on bridging the gap in the collegiate setting LIVE at the 2025 NSCA Coaches Conference! Register to watch online at NSCA.com/Coaches.
Fascinated by the intersection between strength and conditioning and sports medicine? Join other professionals in the Sports Medicine/Rehabilitation Specialist Interest Group (SIG) to discover more resources and engage in discussion.
This excerpt from NSCA’s Essentials of Personal Training discusses the importance of education on proper running surfaces, appropriate footwear, and the benefits of cross-training in addressing overuse of the knee.
Personal trainersTSAC FacilitatorsCoachesExercise ScienceProgram designClient Consultation|Assessment
This purpose of this article is to supply personal trainers with resistance training techniques, progressions, and cues that can assist their clients in overcoming sarcopenia and to eventually press to the overhead position pain free and with confidence.
This article in PTQ 11.4 shares content on exercise programs for seniors. Visit NSCA online to read articles on fitness news, personal training and more.
Personal trainersExercise ScienceExercise TechniqueProgram designTesting and EvaluationBasic Pathophysiology and Science of Health Status or Condition, Disorder, or Disease
In this episode, we hear from Kerry Harbor, the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Winston-Salem State University, on his experience at the 2023 NSCA Coaches Conference. Coach Harbor shares with NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, unique aspects of serving student-athletes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II level. The discussion includes Coach Harbor’s early aspiration to become a physical therapist, to how a college football injury introduced him to the coaching profession. From teaching physical education classes to coaching in both high school and college, Coach Harbor reflects on recent growth and areas of opportunity in the strength and conditioning profession.
As mentioned during the episode, you can learn more about the results from the 2022 NSCA Strength and Conditioning Salary Survey.
Connect with Kerry on Instagram: @harborkerry or Twitter @CoachHarbor | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs
Caitlin Quinn, Director of Performance for Toyota Racing Development talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about her start in the field of strength and conditioning with internships, her time at Florida State as a GA and Strength and Conditioning Coach, and her new position at Toyota. Topics under discussion include internships, GA positions, not letting people define you as a coach, and the athletes she works with at Toyota Racing Development.
CoachesOrganization and AdministrationProfessional Development
Herbs, spices, and other whole foods contain bioactive substances that can purportedly improve health and performance in a variety of ways from increased metabolism, antioxidant activity, gastrointestinal health, greater neurotransmitter production, and more. In this session from the NSCA 2015 Personal Trainers Conference, Dr. Carwyn Sharp describes and defines nutraceuticals and functional foods, issues of potency and standardization, their potential uses for health and performance, future directions, and current trending products.
This article in NSCA Coach explores how developmental psychology enhances coaching in high school strength settings. Visit us online to learn more on high school strength training and exercise science.
CoachesExercise ScienceProgram designOrganization and AdministrationTesting and EvaluationClient Consultation|AssessmentSafetyBasic Pathophysiology and Science of Health Status or Condition, Disorder, or DiseaseProfessional Development
In this session from the 2015 NSCA National Conference, Charlie Weingroff discusses interventions based on the core foundations of movement, output, readiness, and sensory systems. Interventions are presented as an intersection between medicine, fitness, and science.