Bobby Smith, owner and Director of Sports Performance at Reach Your Potential Training, talks to the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about the transition to owning his own facility and his impact on youth athletes. Topics under discussion include Smith’s education and previous athletic experience that led him to sports performance, being the owner of a sports performance facility, and his impact on youth athletes.

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

Guy Leahy writes a review of the research relating to the tactical population from presentations and research from the 65th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

In this video from the NSCA's 2014 National Conference, Bret Contreras discusses how moving horizontally - quick breaks and agility drills vs. hopping - can result in explosive acceleration and speed.

Athletes must be able to express strength, power, and speed in multiple directions, and it may be beneficial to emphasize horizontally based movements in strength and conditioning programs.

This infographic summarizes a study in which adding both horizontal and vertical force-vector exercises enhanced physical performance during in-season play.

This info-graphic describes research on velocity decrements to increase propulsive and horizontal force applications to increase acceleration kinetics.

In this 2018 Personal Trainer Conference hands on presentation, Dr. John Rusin demonstrates how he screens and assesses the upper body and shoulder complex, as well as discusses how to program horizontal and vertical pushing and pulling patterns accordingly.

This video demonstrates proper landing technique for a box jump, as well as common errors and a progression for teaching proper landing technique.

Exercise Technique: Depth Jump