NSCA Coaches Conference 2011

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My good friend, Doug Lentz - From The Field on beginning sprinting mechanics.

I just got back from the Coaches Conference and it was a great one.  The NSCA began to call this the Sport Specific a few years ago but changed it back to Coaches Conference this year to better reflect the target group of it's membership which is strength & conditioning coaches and actual sport coaches.  We saw a tremendous line up of collegiate and professional strength & conditioning coaches and everyone that I spoke to really enjoyed this format and the presentations they attended.

Here's just a quick synopsis of the sessions I attended;

Complete Nutrition for College Football - Joshua Hingst.  University of Nebraska.
Coach Hingst is both a registered dietitian and a certified strength coach, he also spent the 2008 season as the dietitian for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.  The presentation hit all the basics of sports nutrition for athletes but the big takeaway was really it all begins with energy intake and determining exact needs for each athlete depending on their goals, size, position, etc.  He also made it clear that we need to keep nutrition simple, don't try and get to fancy with what you're doing, and another great point - that you have to actually coach nutrition.  It would be incredible to be a football athlete at Nebraska because they meet individually with Hingst as well as having an incredible dining hall just for the athletes.

Off season training for Winter Sports, Developing Out of Season Competition- Maureen Butler, Amanda Kimball, Gerry Martin.  UConn Staff 
Good fundamental info about the training for men's & women's basketball and ice hockey at UConn.  Covered the topic from A-Z;  exercieses, example template, conditioning, etc.  They even put the different teams up against each other in different competitions.  Coach Martin spoke about Developing Competition and basically his was regarding how the football team does it during winter training.  Got some new drills and ideas for team competitions as well as how to organize it.  Better get some interns for some of this (lots of stuff to take out/put away, hahaha).


Developing a Performance Class - Mike Nitka, Muskego High School.
First Mike Nitka is a legend and if you've never met him you're missing out on one of the great coaches in our country.  He's also a lifetime Phys Ed teacher and had influenced an incredible number of youth in his 35+ years.  We need more guys (or girls) like this working in our school systems, he knows how to get what he wants and provide the best for his school and kids (including a 5,200 sq ft weight room!).  His human performance classes have become staples in physical education at the school and are some of the most popular.

More to come on Day 2 of the conference in my next post...

 

TRX jungle gym (at least that's what I call it..