2025 NSCA Coaches Conference

Presented by the High School and College Coaches Professional Development Groups

Workout and/or join the Exhibitors for coffee & breakast sandwich.

• Discuss the current knowledge base regarding using genetic testing for talent identification in sports performance.
• Discuss the current understanding of plasticity vs. inherited traits.
• Describe recently released and current major research projects in the field of genetics and human performance.
• Describe the usefulness of genetic testing for exercise, recovery, and nutrition recommendations.

Lecture

• Understand physical differences in youth athletes aged 10-18.
• Understand psychological differences in youth athletes aged 10-18.
• Gain ideas on programming and exercise selection to maximize performance and athlete health.

Lecture

• Identify areas that are limiters for performance when it comes to mobility and stability.
• Explore different ways to mobilize atheltes (and ourselves) for any day- competition days, practice days, or an off day
• "Warming up" should be a daily pratice to some extent, regardless of the demands of the day- we will break down several mobility flows that are easy to teach and even easier to impliment with minimal equipment, as well as the introduciton of some warm up games and things that will stimulate athletes drive for competition as well as coginitive abilities and strategy.

Hands-on

Sign up at the Foundation Booth inside Resources

Lecture

• Explain how resisted sprint training effectively improves acceleration and maximum velocity in athletes.
• Analyze the impact of kinematic changes during resisted sprint training and determine why they may not be unfavorable for field-based sports.
• Design a resisted sprint training program that includes training 2-3 times per week, covering over 160 meters per session, over a period exceeding 6 weeks, utilizing rigid surfaces, and applying appropriate loading parameters (e.g., % velocity decrement greater than % body mass, less than 20% for max velocity, and varying loads for acceleration).

Lecture sponsored by ASCA

Career Connections

• Benefits of Olympic lifting as it transfers to athletic performance.
• More in-depth understanding of Olympic lifting and the technical aspects to consider.

Hands-on

Lunch provided for all attendees and exhibitors.

• Developing a needs analysis & testing battery for Mixed Martial Arts in relation to energy systems.
• Highlight specific components within each energy system for the S&C practitioner to optimize in their programming.
• Understand what the limiting factor may be for the individual & how to target adaptations.

Lecture

• Outline the planes of movement and myofascial slings importance for coordinated movement for rotation to have power.
• Explore the specificity of skill/sport for different movements and the transfer of training from general to specific.
• Go through a year of programming for Baseball. Including exercise selection for each phase of development.

Lecture

• Identify what Quadrupedal Movement Training (QMT) is and its benefits to athletes.
• Identify practice how to properly regress, progress, and cue the details of the crawling pattern for efficient movement.
• Identify how and when to implement Quadrupedal Movement Training into your Strength & Conditioning program.

Hands-on

Career Connections

• Identify nutritional supplements that have scientific support for physical and cognitive performance enhancement.
• Understand dosing and timing considerations to optimize supplement effectiveness.
• Describe medical, legal, and policy considerations related to sport supplement use.

Lecture

• Understand the biomechanical factors contributing to common hip and groin injuries in sports, including hamstring strains, groin strains, and intra-articular hip pathologies.
• Learn strategies for biomechanical analysis and muscle architecture evaluations to identify susceptibility factors for hip and groin injuries among athletes.
• Gain knowledge of research-driven interventions aimed at maximizing force output of the hip and groin muscles, with a focus on injury prevention and performance enhancement in sports.

Lecture

• Design plyometric progressions that foster confidence and safety.
• Construct plyometric training sessions that can be easily and readily progressed/regressed within session.
• Use verbal, non-verbal, and equipment-augmented cues to optimize plyometric safety and effectiveness.

Hands-On sponsored by Perform Better

Career Connections

• Participants will be able to discuss various barriers to and facilitators of Performance and Wellness Integration in the Collegiate Athletics Setting.
• Participants will be able to discuss potential solutions to address the barriers to integration.

Lecture

• Provide professional competencies opportunities for emerging S&C professionals.
• Provide a curriculum framework for S&C preceptors.
• Provide solutions for university field experience coordinators to manage both student and preceptor.

Lecture

• Learn basic techniques of the MMAFx hand skills program.
• Learn basic drills of the MMAFx hand skills program.
• Learn how to initiate and implement the program with their clients and athletes.

Hands-on

• Overview outlining the vertical integration of resistance training, mobility, and field prep warm up activities to best prepare field sport athletes for competition.
• Paying special attention to periodization and consistency while moving through training phases.

Lecture

• Understand what RED-S and LEA are and impact on health and performance.
• Recognize the signs & symptoms of athletes that are at increased risk.
• Identify misconceptions and common fueling thoughts of athletes.
• Develop fueling considerations and strategies for recovery and prevention of RED-S.

Lecture

• Discuss core training for performance rather than appearance.
• Discuss strategies for organizing core exercises as part of a comprehensive strength and conditioning program.
• Learn to categorize and practice various exercises and their variations. 

Hands-on

Career Connection

• Long term strength power development.
• Benefits of increased strength power development for specific sports.
• Technical development in the weight room.

Lecture

• Learn how to safely execute the kettlebell get-up.
• Learn how to program the lift into a program.
• Learn coaching cues and strategies for the get-up.

Hands-on sponsored by Perform Better

Career Connection

All attendees and exhibitors welcome.

RSCC & RSVP required

Workout and/or join the Exhibitors for coffee & breakfast sandwich.

• Explain the importance of a food-first approach to sports nutrition programs for athletes, particularly for those at younger ages.
• Indicate when the use/recommendation of certain dietary supplements may be warranted and which supplements may be worth considering.
• Understand the mechanism of action, intended purpose, and dosing recommendations for identified supplements.

Lecture

• Learn the various components of the force plate data from countermovement jump testing.
• Learn how to compare force plate data to baseball performance data.
• Learn how to practically apply force plate data to training to improve performance.

Lecture

• Design warm-up/movement prep sessions based on the demands of training for the day.
• Identify needs of the athletes/positions and determine how to fill those needs through dosing within the warm ups.

Hands-on

• Understand concepts specific to exercise selection, progression & load management as it relates to specific sport/athlete.
• Learn concepts & methods to perform best practices in developing a program inclusive of acceleration, max velocity, change of direction & conditioning.

Lecture

• Identifying limitations and measurables in injured athletes.
• Utilizing pieces of technology to aid decision making.
• Constructing a RTP framework in collaboration with the multi-disciplinary team.

Lecture

• Cleans are not complicated to teach IF you have a good progression.
• Teaching Cleans do not have to take a lot of time away from your training program.

Hands-on

Career Connections

• Attendees will learn how to demonstrate educational value and credibility with school district leaders through the creation of a S&C curriculum that is grounded in pedagogical concepts. Attendees will be able to differentiate a S&C training program from a S&C curriculum.
• Attendees will learn how to write student learning objectives aligned with their S&C program to include in a curriculum plan.
• Attendees will learn how to fit common coaching practices like differentiation, goal setting, goal attainment and social support into a curriculum.
• Attendees will learn how to correctly utilize formative and summative assessments and include them in curriculum development.
• Attendees will learn about the positive systemic impact on students through a standards-based curriculum that is vertically aligned with elementary and middle school physical education programs.

Lecture

• Understand what unique tools a strongman utilizes.
• Safely translating those tools to your teams or clients.
• Practical application and nuances of those tools.

Hands-on

Career Connections

sign up at the Foundation booth inside the NSCA Resource area

All attendees and Exhibitors welcome

• Learn how and to what extent pre-competition priming can improve performance.
• Understand key differences in exercise selection, timing, and load to improve performance across a wide range of sports tasks.
• Understand the evidence-based means, methods and time frames associated with effective priming strategies.

Lecture

• Understand the basic principles and differences between off-season and in-season training.
• Show progressions and regressions of specific movement patterns and how they would fit into an off-season to in-season periodization scheme.
• Demonstrate the physiological reasoning for modifications and changes from the off-season to help athletes perform at their best in-season.

Lecture

• Speed Dynamics Technique Application for Acceleration and Maximum Velocity.
• Pedagogical Approach: Whole- Part – Whole and Interweaving applied to Speed Motor Learning in a team setting.

Hands-on

• Identify commonly assessed strength and performance ratios and profiles.
• Discuss how to critically evaluate existing ratios and profiles in relation to an athlete's performance characteristics.
• Provide practical examples of how to effectively use performance ratios and profiles when designing training programs for athletes.

Lecture

• Depth jumps (CDJ) ad drop jump (BDJ): jumping strategies and key performance outcomes.
• Optimal dropping height: CDJ incremental test 3- depth jump: program design.

Lecture

• Understand the principles of progressive medicine ball and plyometric training and its role in advancing high school athletes' speed, power, and injury reduction capabilities.
• Gain practical skills in designing and implementing hands-on training programs that incorporate systematic progressions, personalized exercises, and cueing techniques to optimize performance gains while minimizing the risk of injury for adolescent athletes.

Hands-on

• Exemplify the adaption-led approach to athletic enhancement whilst supporting the coaching process of the athlete.
• Illustrate the decision-making process within the long and short-term periodized programming for an athlete based upon various needs analysis.
• Present examples of sports needs analysis, functional risk profiling and performance profiling from a number of sports that inform the S&C coaching program delivery.
• Present example programs and exercises that an S&C coach might consider to address the specific challenges within group and individual settings to achieve success in their programs.

Lecture

• Identify ways to build competition and teamwork in a large group setting.
• Design group "finishers" that provide a teamwork aspect while still being safe and effective for all athletes involved.
• Give attendee's new ideas and cultivate a thought process to be able to create their own "finishers" that can be safe and effective while also creating opportunities for competition and teamwork. 

Hands-on

Lecture