Learn how to coach various weight room exercises and understand the differences of “intention” between the various levels of football. In this session from the NSCA’s 2017 Coaches Conference, Pete Bommarito dives into the details of building strength in the weight room for youth and early high school football players, how to maximize all aspects of speed-strength and power by heavy variable loading, and advanced techniques at the elite and professional levels.

Strength coaches make up the foundation of the NSCA since its beginnings more than four decades ago and continue to drive our purpose and passion. Learn more about obtaining the acclaimed CSCS® certification, gain knowledge through NSCA's peer-reviewed journals, and get inspired by NSCA's coaching podcast. From tools and resources to thousands of top professionals across the globe, you've got the support and the credibility of an association dedicated to your profession.

Early sports specialization has been a controversial topic in the field of sports medicine, training, and conditioning. Recent studies report increased sports-related injuries in single-sport specialized athletes compared with multisport specialized athletes.

In this session from the NSCA’s 2018 Coaches Conference, Maura Bergan explores how strength and conditioning and the weight room can help educate young individuals in more areas than just athletic development, and how it can foster and create many positive life lessons.

In the first of a two part series, this article will briefly highlight the main components of a needs analysis and apply it to the context of soccer.

This article provides medicine ball exercise progressions to help build athleticism in youth athletes.

This three-part series will show how personal trainers can create a physically literate cradle-to-grave culture for all, with LTAD as the framework. This article addresses awareness of LTAD and why is it important for personal trainers.

This article from Developing Agility briefly discusses the importance of age-appropriate speed and agility drills.

What does LTAD mean and how can parents get more involved with their child’s athletic development? Rick Howard provides an overview of youth development, important concepts to understand, ways to impact physical development, signs of overtraining, and further resources that are a great refresher for coaches and can be passed onto parents.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the different opinions regarding the validity of early sport specialization as opposed to diversification, specifically the effect these two methods have on injuries, motor development, skill acquisition, and social and psychological aspects.