- In sports competition, athletes who are stronger, faster, more agile, more flexible, more powerful, and incorporate appropriate eating habits have significantly higher levels of success.
- The Strength, Conditioning and Nutrition program at the National Sport Academy has been designed to accomplish these objectives using current, cutting-edge age-focused training and performance enhancement research.
- The National Sport Academy Strength Conditioning & Nutrition program will enable young athletes to gain that extra edge on their opponents, assist them in accomplishing their current athletic and competitive goals, and build the foundation for a successful competitive sports career.
- The philosophy of the National Sport Academy Strength Conditioning & Nutrition Program is to physically and mentally prepare student-athletes for the demands and challenges they will experience on the playing venue.
- Training sessions are designed to improve sport-specific strength, rate of force development (power), speed, agility, conditioning, flexibility, and proper nutrition habits. Training these physiological and psychological components increases athleticism, minimizes the risk of sports-related injuries, and improves total athletic performance.
Strength and Conditioning Training Principles
- Train the way you play: physically and mentally.
- Train the kinetic chain: Pillar Strength.
- Train utilizing all planes of movement.
- Train primarily using ground-based movements.
- Emphasize biomechanical efficiency during training.
- Educate the importance of effective sports nutrition strategies to optimize performance.
- Develop a long-term plan resulting in yearly periodization.
- Emphasize improvement not numbers.
Sport Specific Strength & Conditioning
Hockey
Hockey is an intermittent-based (anerobic) game that is physically challenging. On average, players perform for 15-20 minutes of a 60-minute game. A typical interval lasts 30-80 seconds with a 4-5 minute rest interval between shifts. These shifts tend to be anaerobic in nature with short, intense bouts of high speed skating and aggressive body contact.
The hockey Strength & Conditioning program at the National Sport Academy emphasizes each physical parameter needed to improve on-ice performance (anaerobic capacity, aerobic endurance, transitional acceleration-speed, agility-coordination, strength and power, hypertrophy, injury prevention strategies, and hockey specific nutrition strategies).
Baseball
Baseball is a game that demands a tremendous amount of athleticism. To be successful, baseball athletes must exhibit a high degree of strength and power. Studies have shown that a baseball specific Strength & Conditioning program can significantly increase batting speed and striking power as well as throwing velocity. Power training (using plyometrics for example) can increase a baseball player's speed and agility (e.g. fielding, time to 1st base etc). It may also improve throwing and batting velocity over and above conventional weight training.
The baseball Strength & Conditioning program at the National Sport Academy emphasizes all of the above.
Lacrosse
Lacrosse (field and box lacrosse) is one of the most physically challenging games in sports competition. Similar to hockey, basketball, and soccer, lacrosse athletes must posess a high level of aerobic and anaerobic capacity so they can excel on the floor or the pitch (e.g. anaerobic capacity=accelerating to loose balls, transitioning the ball, creating space between attacker and defender; aerobic capacity=rapid recovery between shifts (BOX), maintaining the ability to sustain speed over the course of the entire game (FIELD) etc). Lacrosse athletes also require a great deal of strength and power for shooting velocity, body contact, agility etc).
The lacrosse specific Strength & Conditioning program at the National Sport Academy effectively prepares lacrosse athletes for the aforementioned demands created by the sport of lacrosse.
Soccer
Soccer is a demanding sport that requires a tremendous amount of conditioning (aerobic and anaerobic energy systems), muscular strength, power, and muscular endurance. Few sports are played on as large a playing field, lasting as long and without regular rest periods. According to current research, players cover 8-12 km during a match, consisting of 24% walking, 36% jogging, 20% coursing, 11% sprinting, 7% moving backwards and 2% moving whilst in possession of the ball. Consequently, soccer players must possess excellent aerobic endurance with VO2max reported to range between 55 and 70 ml/kg/min in elite performers. The game is played at an average intensity close to the lactate threshold - approximately 80-90% of maximum heart rate.
The soccer specific Strength & Conditioning program utilized by the National Sport Academy is designed to effectively prepare student-athletes to meet the demands placed on them while playing soccer.
Golf
Muscular strength, power, flexibility, balance, core stability, body awareness, even aerobic endurance... they're all physical traits that every golf athlete must possess to be successful. A recent study revealed that after 5 weeks of following a golf-specific weight training program (2 times a week), golfers increased their club head speed by an average of 24%. While it could be argued that club head speed is only one small facet of a golfer's overall game, it is highly correlated with a player's handicap. In other words, the lower a player's handicap is, the higher their club head speed at impact tends to be. In fact, a 24% increase relates to a reduction of 4 shots off a golfer's handicap. This is just one of several studies that supports the benefits of conditioning for golf.
The National Sport Academy Golf Strength & Conditioning Program is designed to enhance all of the physical qualities necessary to excel in golf.
FlexSports
The National Sport Academy Strength & Conditioning Program is designed to prepare each athlete for success, no matter what their chosen sport may be. The Flexsports program is unique as athletes from several different sports (e.g. swimming, equestrian, volleyball, skiing, figure skating etc) participate.
To effectively provide quality Strength & Conditioning programming to these specialized athletes, each athlete is provided a customized plan created to target their individual needs and sport objectives.
