CSCA CONFERENCE 2022
REGISTER HERE Registration closes on May 4th 11:59pm ET DATES: Friday May 6th and Saturday May 7th, 2022 WHERE: Virtual (Conference Link will be sent to participants the week leading up to the conference) General Admission = $50 CSCA Conference Schedule 2022 FRIDAY MAY 6th (7pm-9pm ET) OPENING KEYNOTE The Importance of Mastery for the S&C Coach (Dr Stuart McGill) Consider the spectrum of health care and illness prevention. Fact: every system in the body requires appropriate movement, and stress, for optimal health. Now consider who is the movement specialist within the life-long heath rubric? Also consider who guides the path [...]
Should We Be Trying to Predict Injuries in S&C Contexts?
Summary: There is debate amongst coaches and researchers as to whether we can actually "predict" injuries. There are two main hurdles that must be considered when attempting to use injury prediction models in practice. This article discusses assumptions regarding injury base rates and whether more accurate prediction models actually yield better decision-making processes. Practical recommendations are then made for coaches based on these statistical assumptions for current and future practice. Note to reader, all internal references are hyperlinked to the source material Coaches and researchers debate whether we can actually "predict" injuries. This debate is complicated by the many companies [...]
Should Children Lift Weights?
Weight-training programs may be designed to improve muscular strength and endurance through the application of progressive overload. (Malina, 2006). Progressive overload is the training principle that states that the body needs progressively greater demands placed on it for training adaptations to take place, like strength and fitness increases (Baechle, 2000). For the purpose of this article, strength training (or resistance training) will refer to a special method of conditioning used to increase ability to exert force or resist force (Faigenbaum, 2000). This should be distinguished from weightlifting and powerlifting which is reserved to describe high intensity techniques used to lift [...]
Female Athlete Health and Wellness
I opened my talk at the first annual CSCA conference last year with an apology and about a year later I am going to do the same with this short article. I will also end this with my final slide as it is still applicable. During the conference I highlighted the fact that in my 20 years of coaching, I wasn’t vocal enough in calling out some of the traditions that we tend to rally around as S&C coaches. The reality is, professional (paid) S&C, or even sport coaching for that matter, is relatively new in the grand scheme of [...]
Reconditioning Learning Opportunities
R1 Foundations - The LIVE LAB Have you been waiting to do Reconditioning in a live environment? We get it. The R1 Foundations LIVE LAB is made for you. This LIVE weekend Lab is a chance to finally get together with us to practice all of the principles and skills outlined in the online learning content of R1 Foundations Neuro Reconditioning in an in-person, group, case study format. This is a LEARNING LABORATORY where you will be exposed to context and application through case studies. You will do and try the skills and principles and understand how these will best [...]
The International Hockey Performance Summit – 2022
Online - June 10-12, 2022 Register HERE Friday, June 10th, 2022 9:00 am - 4:00 pm - SCAPH Conference 4:00 - 5:00 pm - Pre-Registration 5:00 pm - Opening Face-Off - The Future of Building Hockey Players (A Panel Discussion with Hockey’s Leading Minds) 6:00 pm - Informal Social Saturday, June 11th, 2022 8:30 am - Welcome and Introductions 8:45 am - Andy O’Brien - What I’ve Learned Through a Life in Hockey 9:30 am - Transition 9:40 am - JF Menard - “Mental Preparation Habits of Champions” 10:25 am - Coffee Break 11:00 am - Mike Potenza - How [...]
Considerations and Contributions to Sport Performance for Female Athletes
UBC is hosting an event on March 8th from 6-730pm (PST) with a focus on supporting female athletes. If you work with female athletes this should offer some good insights. Those on the panel have done some mini sessions with several coaches, staff and athletes and there is a clear need for us to have more conversations around female health. https://ubc.zoom.us/j/63467773808
CSCA Candid Conversations: From Pro Soccer to the NBA with Carl Bergstrom
Carl is a graduate of UBC in Vancouver and currently the Director of Performance for the San Francisco based Golden State Warriors (GSW) in the NBA. During this interview with CSCA Advisory Team member Scott Vass, he discusses his experience working in the private sector, amateur sport (Canadian Women’s Soccer Team) and professional soccer (Vancouver Whitecaps) that lead to his current role with the GSW. Topics also discussed in this interview are: - Career path from UBC undergrad to GSW - Importance of Mentorship and Networking for professional development & career advancement - Developing trust with athletes when entering a [...]
Advisory Team Spotlight: Hayley Legg
Hayley Legg PhD, CSCS,*D, ASCC Hayley is the Clinical and Sport Scientist at Craven SPORT services, Saskatchewan, supporting the S&C and Physiotherapy teams. Additionally, Hayley is a Senior Lecturer at St. Mary’s University in London, contributing to the distance learning Strength & Conditioning Science Master’s program. Prior to this, she contributed to the undergraduate Sport Science and Strength & Conditioning Science degree programs for a decade. She completed her PhD at the University of Saskatchewan, focusing on upper body strength capacity in an aging population. Hayley has been an accredited strength and conditioning coach since 2008, works with a wide range [...]
The Importance of In-Season Strength and Conditioning Training
The benefits of strength and conditioning (S&C) training for athletes of all levels have been long established. Athletes who engage in well-structured and evidence-based off-season S&C programs can make significant gains in strength, power and other performance measures, as well as reduce their risk of injury (1,2). The reality is that most athletes, especially those in competitive team sport, spend the majority of the calendar year in a competitive phase. This means that without an effective in-season S&C approach, athletes risk decreasing a large portion of the performance gains they made in the prior off-season (3). In-season training presents a [...]
Build Passion and Foster Community: An Interview with Dalhousie’s Brett Armstrong
Interview conducted by Travis Dorsey on behalf of the CSCA CSCA: Why did you start your journey of becoming a strength and conditioning coach? Was there anyone influential in your life to guide you? BA: I started my journey of becoming a strength and conditioning coach when working as an athletic therapy student intern at Dalhousie. Many of our athletes’ injuries were stemming from chronic overuse, poor exposure to gradual loading, and a need for simple scalable strength progressions. Soon after my athletic therapy intern experience, I first started working in a Sports Medicine Clinic in Toronto called the Sports [...]
Pitfalls of Conditioning at Youth Sport Practice: A Guide for Sport Coaches
The reemergence of youth sport around the country after a long pause due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the topic of reintroducing athletes appropriately and safely back into sport after a significant hiatus from play. Despite the increased understanding of sport and exercise science today, there may be a disconnect between the information and guidance provided by the strength and conditioning community and the real-world practices of many youth sport organizations and coaches. This article focuses on four key areas that draw from my experience working as a strength and conditioning coach [...]
Strengthening Athlete Motivation by Embedding the Self-Determination Theory in a Strength and Conditioning Program
“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”. At times in my career, I’ve heard statements from coaches along the lines of “this player seems like he doesn’t care” or “it doesn’t seem like she cares about being here”, and this is often followed up with a conversation about how frustrating it is for coaches when the athletes don’t seem present or invested in training. I like to think I understand where the coaches are coming from; a lot of strength and conditioning coaches get into the field through some innate draw to the weight [...]
Forced Evolution: Practical Takeaways Through Navigating the Pandemic
In our competitive profession, coaches at all levels strive to represent themselves as leaders who personify what we speak to our athletes about. Across the sports performance spectrum, we see a race to be the first to discover the newest training method, develop the best acronym, read the most books, or present the latest monitoring approach that we've integrated into our high-performance programs. We all spend significant energy investing in the perception that we are all at the forefront of the latest industry trends. What is rarely spoken about at conferences or on podcasts are the difficult internal conversations about [...]
Be a Lifelong Learner: Professional Development Tips For New Coaches
The professional strength and conditioning coach has to effectively combine the science and practice of training in the development of their athletes. Our field is constantly evolving, making it therefore necessary to develop strategies for becoming a lifelong learner in the industry. With hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific articles being published each month, and new coaching strategies and technologies being implemented in the weight room, it is difficult to stay abreast of the onslaught of new information. This article offers four simple tips and suggestions to aid your development opportunities and maximize your continuing education plan. Tip #1: Do It! (Make [...]
Letter From the CSCA President 2022
Dear CSCA Supporters,As the CSCA continues to grow and evolve, I am excited to announce our new Board of Directors (BOD) and Executive as we navigate through many important milestones in 2022. Our BOD is composed of seven members; Shauna Forsyth, Sam Eyles-Frayne, Samantha Pritchard, Steve Lidstone, Marcello Campanaro, myself, and CSCA Founder and Inaugural President Sheldon Persad who will continue to serve as an Advisor to the Board. I will be serving in the President role for this year, along with Shauna Forsyth as Vice President, and Sam Eyles-Frayne serving dual roles as Secretary and Treasurer. This will be [...]
Call for Advisory Team Members
We would like to invite members of our strength and conditioning community to become an Advisory Team Member (ATM). An ATM will be called upon to assist in many tasks, including; promoting the CSCA through social media, contributing articles for our newsletters, serving on committees, assisting in our yearly conference planning, and general planning for the organization. The ATM will be asked to attend the Annual General Meeting and will have voting rights on motions and elections for the organization. The ATM is an individual currently immersed in the profession who feels they could contribute time and resources to assist [...]
Speed Training with Dennis Mitchell: Hosted by CSCA Advisory Team Member Joseph Dolcetti
Date & Time (check your time zone): Thursday, December 2nd, 2021, 1130 am (GMT-5) Join the live Q&A and we’ll even give a pair of calf sleeves away to a lucky winner! CLICK HERE to register “Join LILAs upcoming Speed Webinar with our newest LILA Partner - Legend Coach Dennis Mitchell @greenmachine, Nike elite coach, USAT&F Coach, Olympic champion as we explore EXOGEN wearable resistance for elite speed conditioning technique and mechanics and discuss our program for the coming 2022 off season with some of the very fastest speed demons in human history. “Speed Training with Dennis Mitchell” is targeted [...]
High Performance Facility Design to Opening: Lessons Learned While Creating a World Class Training Environment at McMaster University
Bahman Bahrami & Jonathan Brown The High Performance Area (HPA) is a training centre for athletes of all ages under the direction of the McMaster Performance unit in the Department of Athletics and Recreation at McMaster University. With a student centered and community involved model, the department’s strength and conditioning staff uses the HPA to service varsity student athletes, experiential learning opportunities, secondary school students, Olympic athletes, professional athletes, and community athletes and teams. A brand new space for the HPA recently finished construction after the design process started in 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxzQ-KimaM0 Athlete touring the facility for the first time [...]
Dr. Matt Jordan Interview: Jump Assessments – Measurements, Decision Making, Return to Play
https://youtu.be/q0foCc1wQws Matt Jordan is a specialist in player health and performance. He has been a sport scientist consultant for elite athletes over six Olympic Winter Games. Matt holds a Master of Science in Exercise and Neuromuscular Physiology, and a PhD in Medical Science. His research focuses on neuromuscular adaptations to resistance training and knee injury/re-injury prevention. A key method in his research is the development of neuromuscular testing techniques that can be used to monitor recovery after knee injuries to forecast recovery and improve rehabilitation. Currently, Matt is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of [...]
