PT22

Integrating Wearable Technology and Analytics to Maximize Performance

This article details the rationale for making the eight main movements the foundation of tactical strength and conditioning.

Building athletes who are strong, healthy, and resilient requires more than sets and reps, starting with a shift in mindset. Christi Edson, Head of Performance for the Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), shares how she integrates strength and conditioning with sport science to sustain athlete health and performance. She reflects on the field’s evolution from the well-known “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” program to a training culture emphasizing resilience, active recovery, and durability. Drawing from her experience coaching high school athletes to NWSL professionals, Edson highlights the adaptability and creativity coaches need. Those qualities help her to develop athletes who can thrive through a demanding 11-month season. She details how tools like GPS, force plates, and velocity-based training sharpen communication and reshape expectations in the gym. Her story points coaches toward the future of athlete development: collaboration, precise load management, and long-term health as the foundation of strength. Connect with Christi on Instagram: @christiedson and LinkedIn: @christiana-edson | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Read the article, “A Creative Mind in the Professional Development of a Strength and Conditioning Coach,” from NSCA Coach, 11(1), February 2024 — referenced in this episode’s return-to-play discussion. NSCA Members enjoy full publication access. Interested in bridging coaching and sport science? The Certified Performance and Sport Scientist (CPSS) credential can help you expand your qualifications, open new career paths, and strengthen cross-department collaboration.

It is important for strength and conditioning coaches, sport coaches, athletic trainers, and administrators to recognize and address the evidence of stress within student-athletes in order to avoid chronic stress-related anxiety and injury.

This article features the recharge skate—an in-season hockey conditioning drill, designed by the authors, to maintain hockey-specific energy system fitness throughout the competitive season.

Opening Your Own Training Facility

NATCON 2022

The first in a planned article series to review essential considerations of each Functional Movement Screen (FMS™) pattern, this article will examine the FMS active straight leg raise (ASLR).

Mental health is changing across sports and human performance. See how strength and conditioning professionals can recognize, respond, refer, and use resources.