Learn about the role of sports science in athletics. In this session from the NSCA’s 2016 National Conference, Patrick Ward provides an overview of monitoring strategies and discusses the use of technology within a sports science setting.

From the 2021 NSCA’s Coaches Conference, Guy Hornsby, Teaching Assistant Professor in Athletic Coaching Education at West Virginia University, and John Wagle, the Director of Performance Science and Player Development for the Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball (MLB) team, discuss applied sports science and athlete monitoring for both intercollegiate student-athletes and professional athletes.

This article provides a review of sessions presented at the 2019 National Basketball Strength and Conditioning Association (NBSCA) Performance Summit including strength and conditioning methods and coaching strategies, in-season strength programming, force plate assessment, injury prevention, and player monitoring.

Due to the high contact and intensity of football, injuries to the players are inevitable. Strength and conditioning coaches play a vital role in the athlete’s process of return to sport. This article is a detailed outline of the solutions that are involved with transitioning a football player from rehabilitation to strength and conditioning back to the field.

This article will examine the physical demands of soccer players and discuss why repeated sprint ability (RSA) is considered highly important in the performance of these athletes.

Alex Calder, Head of Sports Science for the Houston Dynamo Major League Soccer (MLS) team, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about sports science data driving better decisions on and off the field. Topics under discussion include the importance of traditional strength training for soccer players, as well as, the variety of strength and conditioning opportunities there are to gain experience from at the high school, college, private, and professional level of sports. Find Alex on Twitter: @calder_05 or Instagram: @calder_05 | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

This is an excerpt from NSCA's Essentials of Sport Science by NSCA -National Strength & Conditioning Association, Duncan N. French & Lorena Torres-Ronda.

Acclaimed Wisconsin-area high school strength and conditioning coach advises parents to ask these 10 important questions.

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.

Monitoring training load is essential for determining if athletes are adapting positively or negatively to their training program. This article goes over the various measurement metrics and includes recommendations to monitor training load for football athletes.