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

This excerpt from the Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning outlines what training typically looks like in the preparatory period, or off-season.

This book excerpt from Developing Endurance goes over nutritional strategies for pre-competition and during competition phases to maximize performance.

An appropriately designed program with elements of safe resistance training that focuses on the upper back and external shoulder rotators and open agility technique training may improve agility on the pickleball court, decrease the injury risk of older pickleball players, and increase the self-confidence of these individuals on the court and in daily life.

With the rapid development of technology, the daily demands for physical activity are significantly reduced. This article details four distinct phases for personal trainers to implement when working with clients coming from sedentary lifestyles.

The purpose of this article is to present the reader with the prescription of a daily specific stretching routine that can help athletes avoid the onset of injuries and chronic pain in muscle-tendon structures of the lower extremities.

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.

This article details the proper pick up, or deadlift, technique for the older adult, including progressions of three exercises that can aid in their ability to perform them properly.

This excerpt from Strength Training briefly discusses glycemic index and glycemic load.

Brian Buck, Director of Sports at Sparta Science, talks to the NSCA Coaching Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about the new roles that data and technology are playing in the weight room. Topics under discussion include what young coaches should know getting into the field of strength and conditioning and the importance of building relationships and developing people. Find Brian on Twitter: @brianbuck6 | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs