Interviews

Nicole Smart has over 15 years of coaching experience.  She is an active member of the Canadian Strength and Conditioning Association (CSCA) as part of the Advisory Team and she is also a member of the Ontario Weightlifting Association. She has worked with high-performance athletes from many sporting backgrounds for strength training, sprint development and agility techniques. CSCA: What was it that first interested you about being in the S&C field? NS: In 2016, I was coaching youth sports and realized that I was more interested in developing athletic qualities than athletic skill. I knew then that I wanted to [...]

CSCA Advisory Team Member Tanner Care is the Director of Performance for the Vancouver Bandits (CEBL) and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Simon Fraser University (NCAA). Originating from Burlington ONT, Tanner's journey in sport performance started through his own experince as an athlete in the sports of football, track, and bobsled.  He then received Strength and Conditioning mentorship at a young age from practitioners such as Larry Jusdanis and former CSCA Board Member Marcello Campanaro. Tanner now works in both professional and collegiate athletics that ranges across 13 different sports and has helped produce over 30 All-Americans.  The CSCA asked [...]

You know, we had to complete a Decathlon as part of passing my undergraduate degree.

In this article, CSCA Advisory Team Member Carla Robbins shares about her connection, and the details of her first interview, with track coach Les Gramantik in this three part series. Introduction In 2010, three years after I moved to Calgary, and while completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Calgary, I moved in with someone named Rachael McIntosh. Rachael was a Canadian National team heptathlete at the time, who had just moved to Calgary to train with a new coach. This was after changing her sport pathway and letting go of her scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

In December of 2019, I was approached by Mark Smith (Head Coach) and Scott Willgress (Head Strength & Conditioning Coach), asking if I would be interested in travelling south of the border for eight weeks to help train the Canadian Women’s Olympic Softball Team leading up to the 2020 Olympic Games. I had known Scott and Mark for a few years prior to this and have always followed their team, so when they asked me to join, it was a huge honour. For those who are not aware, Softball made its return to the Olympics for the first time since [...]

Through our partnership with lululemon, we are grateful for Global Ambassador Manoj Dias' time in sharing his skill with us surrounding the CSCA Conference. As we live through the challenges of 2020 and 2021, there has hardly been a time in our lives when a focus on being mindful and mental health was so important. As S&C coaches we often focus on physiological adaptations, while being fully aware of the importance of psychological health. If you are fortunate, you work with a transdisciplinary team that includes a psychologist, psychiatrist, mental performance consultant and/or a mindfulness specialist such as Manoj. Meet [...]

Kris Robertson began his professional athletic career in 2013 by being drafted 11th overall by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League (CFL) draft. Unfortunately, his career was cut short as a result of a knee injury. After a period working as an Assistant S&C Coach with the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL, Kris began at the Canadian Sport Centre Ontario working with Rugby Canada. Kris is responsible for the physical development of the Senior Women’s National 15’s, as well as the Women’s Rugby Canada Development Academy.    In this interview Kris answers four questions and shares his insights into how [...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cSh0dLeIBI 38 year veteran S&C Coach Peter Renzetti chatting to the players Before you read this article, please note that the comment section is activated. Share your comments afterwards! How appropriate that I took the time to write this article over the Thanksgiving weekend. As I reflect on some of the questions before me it is a perfect time for me to be so grateful as I look back on 38 years as a strength & conditioning coach. I can proudly look back as somewhat of a OG in the field and more importantly I am awed and grateful for [...]