This article briefly reviews the importance of the stretch-shortening cycle in power production.

What's behind enduring success at the highest level of college athletics? Kate Smith, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Michigan, shares insights from nearly 14 years of experience coaching multiple sports in a competitive collegiate environment. Smith emphasizes sustained excellence through adaptability, genuine curiosity, and openness to opportunities — even outside of athletics. Drawing on her private-sector experiences, she explains how diverse roles helped shape her flexible, athlete-centered philosophy. Smith candidly addresses current collegiate challenges, including navigating Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) distractions and adjusting motivational strategies across team cultures and generations. As a Certified Performance and Sport Scientist® (CPSS®), Smith highlights how integrating data-driven insights helps her create a more effective training environment. This expertise uniquely positions her to bridge athletics with academics, deepening collaboration on campus-wide performance initiatives. Learn how to implement practical strategies for keeping athletes engaged amidst external pressures, leverage performance data meaningfully, and continually refresh your coaching approach. Connect with Kate via email at kannehay@umich.edu and on Instagram: @katehaycock | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

Dietary fat has both long-term and short-term effects on an athlete and athletic performance. “Fat loading” as a strategy to improve athletic performance remains unproven.

By understanding the means by which athletes encounter risk, strength and conditioning professionals can integrate exercise programs that may offset one of the steps toward injuries.

This article discusses the background, statistics, mechanisms, timing, dosing, influences, and practical applications for the use of caffeine as an ergogenic aid.

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.

The purpose of this article is to highlight some practical methods to develop a collectivist mindset that is unified around core team values. This article also covers how to translate those theoretical constructs into actionable development of a meaningful team culture.

This excerpt explains the importance of optimal nutritional strategies in conjunction with good sleep hygiene and how that can help mitigate damaging effects of deployment and shift work on performance.

Managing workload and optimizing athlete performance while promoting injury-free participation is simplified using the eight tips in this article.

The modern game of ten-pin bowling requires an athlete to have high levels of physical preparedness to excel. This article includes a sample training program that may improve bowling performance.