As Director of Sport Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Heather Farmer spearheads comprehensive integration efforts. This includes ensuring every stakeholder, from sport performance staff to academic advisors, has a seat at the table. Farmer also outlines developing an internship and graduate assistantship program to meet staffing needs and offer opportunities for practical experience. She recounts how leveraging relationships — not data — has been her key to scalability. Additionally, Farmer recognizes that to make an impact, she must meet athletes and sport coaches where they are, which she uncovers through “highlights” and “hurdles.” She suggests that sport scientists with strength and conditioning backgrounds, like herself, are uniquely equipped to excel due to their communication skills. Farmer and McMahon also discuss avoiding “analysis paralysis” and how to incorporate data to elevate the student-athlete experience — an unignorable factor as athletes bring an element of “self” in the age of name, image and likeness (NIL).
Reach out to Heather by email at: heather.farmer@unlv.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs
Jeff Connors, who retired after a staggering 31-year collegiate coaching career, talks to the former NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about being a servant to athletes and contributing to their lives. Topics under discussion include “surviving” head coaching changes, learning from others in the field, and using his coaching experiences to write books.
This article will provide some conditions and standards with specific tools personal trainers may consider using in their initial interview with potential clients.
Personal trainersClient Consultation|AssessmentProfessional Development
Jay DeMayo, strength and conditioning coach at the University of Richmond, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about training within a system but having flexibly, empowering athletes to make decisions in workouts, staying at one institution for 15+ years, books every coach should read, and knowing your role within the team setting.
Football Coach Reed Wainwright, CSCS, speaks at the NSCA's 2013 Coaches Conference about developing and adhering to standards in the strength and conditioning profession.
In this session from the NSCA’s 2017 TSAC Annual Training, Tim Doyle teaches about the complexity of developing tests and standards for tactical populations and the importance of sound science backing the tests and standards.
TSAC FacilitatorsOrganization and AdministrationTesting and Evaluation
Interest is growing in warm-up procedures that involve dynamic activities and sport-specific movements that maximize active ranges of motion at different movement-specific speeds while preparing the body for the demands of sport training and competition.