Meet the 2026 NSCA Peer & Special Recognition Awards recipients, who will be recognized for excellence across the profession at the NSCA National Conference.

The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) is proud to announce the recipients of the organization’s 2024 Career and Service Awards. Given annually, the distinguished Career Awards honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the strength and conditioning community throughout their careers. Additionally, the Service Awards recognize those who have provided exceptional dedication and support to the NSCA’s journals or State and Provincial Director Program. Each winner will be formally recognized at the 2024 NSCA National Conference in Baltimore, MD, this July 10-13.

This excerpt from NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science describes strength as a velocity-dependent concept.

The NSCA is offering a new book that contains a holistic overview of the knowledge and skills required to support athlete and team performance as a modern-day sport scientist. Learn more here about this new resource.

Get NSCA’s Essentials of Tactical Strength and Conditioning, Second Edition — a trusted resource for TSAC-F® exam prep and military and public safety training.

This article provides a brief overview of the physical demands of table tennis, plus recommendations of specific strength and conditioning exercises to improve table tennis performance.

The focus of this article is to describe the physiological needs of soccer athletes and then provide assessments for testing endurance of athletes of various ages, abilities, and genders.

The purpose of this article is to share the importance of the menstrual cycle’s effects on elite athlete performance, and how these effects should influence the training and recovery of high-performing athletic women.

Your career can accelerate when you ask, offer, and say yes. For Morgan Smith, that approach led to a postdoctoral fellowship with the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at Stanford University. Smith recalls how coaching sparked her interest in the science behind performance. Working across academic and practical settings, she encountered challenges with research feasibility firsthand. Today, she focuses on blending coaching with sport science. At Stanford, she began by building relationships and trust within the athletic department. She describes collaborating with coaches and staff to identify research interests, gaps, and low-burden contributions. Smith also highlights opportunities to support club sports, campus recreation centers, and community programs. These roles can help fund education while building your resume, network, and practical skills. She reinforces the value of education as a time to maximize experience and explore interests. Discover how to gain applied experience early, drive cross-department buy-in, and cultivate relationships that move your career forward. Reach out to Morgan on Instagram: @goldenmo_ and LinkedIn: @morgan-smith-sportsscientist | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs | Learn more about the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at: humanperformancealliance.org. 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 organizational collaboration.

Matthew Nein, Head Sports Performance Coach for Salisbury University, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about receiving the NSCA Collegiate Strength Coach of the Year award, personal and program values, and mental toughness.