SPORT PERFORMANCE
TBA
Director of Olympic Sports Performance (Soccer, Lacrosse, M/W Tennis, W.Golf, Softball)
470-578-2176
evander7@kennesaw.edu
Dakota Rushing
Assistant Sports Performance Coach (Football)
470-578-2311
drushin9@kennesaw.edu
Chandler Jackson
Assistant Sports Performance Coach (Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, M. Golf)
470-578-2311
cjack396@kennesaw.edu
James Hutchins
Assistant Sports Performance Coach (Volleyball, Track and Field, Baseball)
470-578-2311
jhutch91@kennesaw.edu
Johnny Rupp
Graduate Sports Performance Coach (Football)
470-578-2311
jrupp2@students.kennesaw.edu
Sport Performance Overview
The Sport Performance staff is part of the KSU Athletic Association working to assist student-athletes and coaches in the development and implementation of scientific based strength and conditioning programs. As a Sport Performance staff member, it is our duty to support sport coaches and student-athletes in maintaining their health, keeping their safety a top priority, and assist in reaching their maximum genetic potential.
Mission Statement
Kennesaw State University Sport Performance provides student-athletes with the tools needed to encounter the demands of NCAA Division I collegiate athletics. Our staff follows a "person first" mentality and strives to build relationships in order to assist in shaping successful individuals.
Philosophy
The main goals of Sport Performance programs are to improve athletic performance and reduce the risk of injury. This is done through utilization of the most current scientific research in the area of program design to create an all-encompassing training protocol in order to prepare the body for the demands placed on a student-athlete participating in their given sport. This philosophy is based on several different principles:
1. Developing Healthy Relationships
Sport Performance and coaching is more than science and has often been referred to as an art. In order to become successful, trust must be present. Trust is created through the organic building of healthy relationships with individuals. In order to excel in the field of Sport Performance, strong, healthy relationships must be developed between the Sport Performance professional and coaches, student-athletes, parents, administrators, faculty, and staff members.
2. Periodization
Strength training for sports should be based on the physiological requirements of the sport. In order to achieve this scientifically based periodization must be used. The goals of periodization are to reduce the possibility of overtraining and to reach peak performance during the major competition season. Periodization is done through manipulating volumes and intensities within training cycles and selecting appropriate exercises within each cycle. Typically, each cycle will begin with a high volume and low intensity in training and ends with a high intensity and low volume of training.
3. Injury Prevention (Prehabilitation)
Prehabilitation involves both strengthening and mobility exercises in order to help reduce the risk of injury. Prehabilitation programs should be personalized, consider needs specific to the sport, and target vulnerable areas of the body. In a prehabilitation program, exercises and drills focus on the athlete's weaknesses and the tissues that require the most involvement in on field competition. Through screening processes and a comprehensive prehabilitation program it may be possible to reduce the incidence of the most common injuries by the systematic targeting of vulnerable areas of the body.
4. Weightlifting (Olympic Style Training)
Two of the most desired physical qualities in an athlete are speed and strength whereas most sports require quick and explosive movements. The amount and rate of force an athlete can apply to the ground will determine how fast they can run, how high they can jump, and how quickly they can change direction. Powerlifting incorporates lifts that require heavy loads but at a lower velocity of movement. Conversely, weightlifting may use heavy loads but the focus is on performing movements at a much higher velocity. As a result, weightlifting and variations of weightlifting movements are better suited for developing strength, power, and speed due to the greater power outputs.
5. Increasing Body Awareness
Increasing body awareness (kinesthesia) is important not only to improved athletic performance but also crucial in injury prevention. Exercises that help develop neuromuscular control and increase functional joint stability aid in increasing body awareness. Therefore, it is important to include activities that target neuromuscular control into training, conditioning, and prehabilitation programs for sports through such activities as agility, plyometric, and proprioception drills.
6. Sport Similar Training
"The only sport specific training is participating in the sport itself" (Doscher, M.). It is, however, important to utilize similar movements and metabolic demands for a sport in order to train the energy systems, muscular adaptations, and needs for an athlete in order to enhance sport performance and decrease risk of injury.
7. Multi-Joint and Multi-Planar Exercises
All sports require compound movements in all planes. No sport involves isolated single joint movement in a single plane. Therefore, training should focus on ground based, multi-joint and multi-planar exercises.
8. Nutrition and Recovery
Adequate energy sources are vital to athletic performance, to help assist in recovery, and build lean muscle. Athletes need energy to function. Limited supplies of stored carbohydrate exists in our bodies, but once these levels are depleted, exercise performance decreases. The body's sole source of stored protein and amino acids is lean muscle mass. When a person's diet is not providing enough fuel to offset the demands of training, muscle mass will be broken down. Dependence lean muscle is not an ideal scenario, which makes a diet with an adequate amount of calories important. In addition to proper nutrition, adequate recovery is needed to meet the demands an athlete faces on a daily basis. Appropriate levels, quality, and amount of sleep are vital to the recovery of athletes. Lacking adequate levels of sleep may have negative implications on performance, recovery, and increase the risk of developing overreaching or overtraining. In addition, consumption of alcohol, caffeine, and hyper-hydration may disturb sleep. Many athletes lack the understanding on the need and practices of proper nutrition and recovery. It is the responsibility of the strength coach to help educate athletes on proper nutritional diet and sleep to reach their maximal potential in sport performance.
