Devan McConnell

Devan McConnell, Head Sports Performance Coach and Division I ice hockey strength coach at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, is back with another installment in his popular series on Monitoring and Analytics. In Part 2, he lays out how he and his coaching staff at UMass Lowell implement front-end physiological monitoring with their athletes. Monitoring allows coaches to gain insights about how "ready" athletes are to compete, and how they can better adapt their training programs to help athletes stay healthy and perform.

Guest author Devan McConnell tackles the trendy topic of monitoring and analytics in sports, listing his top 3 reasons for monitoring his hockey athletes, and some practical low-cost solutions for coaches on a budget. 

We've all heard of "sport-specific training" when it comes to preparing athletes for performance—but what does that really mean? Does the human body function all that differently in volleyball than in field hockey? Guest author and Volt Advisory Board member Devan McConnell explains why he uses "Human-Specific Training" with his athletes, and why it works so well.

Guest author Devan McConnell is one of Volt's contributing strength coaches. Coach McConnell is the Head Sports Performance Coach for UMass Lowell's Division I Hockey Team. Today he shares his insights on how to plan out your team's pre-practice warm-up to be an effective factor in game-day performance.

I show a lot of love for big, compound barbell movements like squats, deadlifts, and cleans—and rightfully so! They get you strong, they make you fast, and they keep you in the game.