4 Dimensions of Athletic Development, Part 2: Performance

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4 Dimensions of Athletic Development, Part 2: Performance

If athletes are high-performance sports cars, then strength coaches are the mechanics: the weight room is our garage, and the practice court is our test track. And just as sports cars need test runs and consistent evaluation to optimize performance, so too do our student athletes. In this second article in a 4-part series on athletic development, Clemson strength coach Kaitlyn Cunningham shares how she tests and evaluates athlete performance—along with practical applications for using that data to construct effective training.

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Life in the NBA: Damaged Goods and Youth Training Habits

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Life in the NBA: Damaged Goods and Youth Training Habits

Life in the NBA is a grind. And with athletes playing for 9 to 10 months straight—or even longer, if they make the Playoffs—it’s not surprising that the NBA is plagued by an injury epidemic. A $350-million-per-year epidemic. Volt’s Head of Sports Science, Joe Eisenmann, PhD, addresses the underlying causes behind this influx of injuries and asks: What if it’s related to how youth basketball is structured in the U.S.? Read on to learn more about the state of youth basketball in America, and how several organizations are working diligently to turn it around.

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The NBA Combine, Correlation, and Tryouts: Individuality Matters!

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The NBA Combine, Correlation, and Tryouts: Individuality Matters!

Each May, the NBA invites top college basketball players to participate in their annual Combine, a series of physical measurements and athletic tests that can help determine a player’s fate in the NBA Draft in June. But combine performance doesn’t necessarily correlate to performance in the NBA (just look at Kevin Durant’s failed combine bench press attempt!). Breaking down the research on the validity of the NBA Combine, Joe Eisenmann, PhD, examines the statistical concept of correlation and how it relates to combine testing, and shares some valuable lessons for coaches about tryouts at the youth and high school levels.

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Cultivating Confidence with NBA Strength Coach Bill Burgos

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Cultivating Confidence with NBA Strength Coach Bill Burgos

Confidence is key when working with athletes, and no one knows this better than the President of the National Basketball Strength & Conditioning Association (NBSCA), Bill Burgos, MS, CSCS, RSCC. In this exclusive article, Coach Burgos shares why he thinks confidence is the most important attribute a coach can possess—and what you can do to attain it. Special thanks to our partners at NBSCA for bringing this content to the Volt Family.

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What's the Best Training for Basketball Players?

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What's the Best Training for Basketball Players?

What's more effective for basketball players: double-leg or single-leg movements? Squats or lunges? A new article in the latest issue of NSCA Coach examines the research to draw some practical conclusions about sport-specific training methods for basketball athletes.

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