This brief excerpt from NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science discusses skill-based key performance indicators (KPIs).

Providing a safe and effective youth strength and conditioning program is only the foundation of their long-term athletic development.

This second article of a two-part series continues the discussion of long-term athletic development (LTAD). This article provides practical application of the LTAD principles by examining two sample programs.

In the intercollegiate athletic setting, the strength and conditioning coach can play a role in the development of student-athlete leadership. For the strength and conditioning coach to be a positive contributor to this effort, he or she must have a clear understanding of their role, the role of the sport coach, and the interaction and relationship between the two.

This article is the second part of a two-part series that considers the potential role strength and conditioning coaches have in developing student-athlete leadership.

Synergistic development of muscular strength and motor skill competency is central to long-term athletic development. However, these qualities need to be developed in a logical and progressive manner, and training methods need to be developmentally appropriate, engaging, and enjoyable for young athletes to help them build a positive association with strength and conditioning-based activities. This article aims to provide a resource for coaches to use when developing the athletic motor skill competencies in youth, including game-based activities, and a more structured resistance training curriculum.

Football requires very fast, high-intensity, and high-impact movement patterns with each position requiring various movements and speeds. This article reviews how coaches are currently observing movement, and offers a framework on how to identify and improve movement in each player without over-coaching movement patterns.

This article describes an innovative approach that was used to implement a long-term athletic development (LTAD) program in a health club, and includes the steps used for implementation.

Rotational & Power Development. Learning How To Apply Skill Acquisition

This article describes the long-term athletic development programming pillars and suggests practical applications for strength and conditioning practitioners.