SPECIAL FEATURES ARCHIVE
Creating Value in Your Workplace
Working in an industry where supply is much greater than demand, those who have a job as a strength coach are extremely fortunate. Here are my observations on what it takes to succeed and keep a strength coaching job in this tough and competitive economic environment.
By Rich Jacobs, MS, SCCC, CSCS
Elements of Motivation
Though the weather outside is frightful, at Wayzata (Minn.) High School, the winter strength and conditioning program is in full swing, and the results have been quite delightful. We've simplified our training approach, actively recruited new participants, and have cultivated program-wide pride among all of our teams. 
By Ryan Johnson
Q&A with Aaron Nelson
By Mike Phelps The Phoenix Suns are off to quick start this NBA season and Head Athletic Trainer Aaron Nelson has been an integral part of the team's success--and many around the country are starting to take notice. Nelson, MS, ATC-L, PES, CES, CSCS, in his 16th season with the organization, was recently named by the NBA Athletic Trainers Association as the Joe O'Toole NBA Athletic Trainer of the Year for the 2008-09 season. Here, Nelson discusses the honor, life in the NBA, and corrective exercise strategy.
Motivating and Building Champions
An inside look at the strength and conditioning program that has driven the Xavier University women's basketball team to three consecutive Atlantic 10 Conference championships. By Rich Jacobs, MS, SCCC, CSCS
Shifting Gears: Game Ready
In today's performance training landscape, improved speed is a common goal. However, to get the most out of their speed, athletes must also learn how to stop. Here, the author explains teaching athletes to put on the BRAKES.
By Peter Twist
Fighting Irish Stepping It Up
By Kyle Garratt Every athletic department wants improved sports performance. The University of Notre Dame has taken it a step further by establishing a new division dedicated to providing individual athletes with every possible advantage.
A Conversation with Jim Booher
By Kyle Garratt When Jim Booher was hired as Head Athletic Trainer at South Dakota State University in 1967, he was the sole member of the athletic training staff and hydration was a perk rather than a necessity. After 42 years with the Jackrabbits, Booher, an NATA Hall-Of-Famer, retired earlier this summer. We recently caught up with Booher, who discusses his career and shares some of his favorite memories.
Life Savers
Last month at Wayzata High School in Plymouth, Minn., a football player went into cardiac arrest during summer workouts. But thanks to quick action by members of the Wayzata staff, including Ryan Johnson, CSCS, Strength and Conditioning Coach and Coach Practitioner--and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED)--the student-athlete survived the heart attack. Here, Johnson takes us through the harrowing experience.By Ryan Johnson
NATA Hall Of Fame Roundtable
By Abigail Funk This month, the NATA will hold a ceremony at its annual convention to induct this year's Hall of Fame class and Training & Conditioning would like to congratulate the newest batch of inductees. To spotlight the important contributions made by NATA hall of famers, we talked to seven of the most respected voices in athletic training about their careers and the evolution of the profession.
Q&A With Chris Hirth
By Kyle Garratt 
In his first season as men's basketball Head Athletic Trainer for the University of North Carolina, Chris Hirth, ATC, PT, PES, inherited national title expectations and the pressure of filling the shoes of a man who held the position for over 30 years. Hirth helped the team withstand injuries to key student-athletes early and late, including star guard Ty Lawson, who played through a painful turf toe injury during the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.
Hip To Be Smooth
By R.J. Anderson Nearly a year and a half after undergoing Birmingham Hip Resurfacing surgery, elite endurance athlete Robyn Benincasa is back at the top of her game. The procedure has helped Benincasa overcome a painful battle with osteoarthritis, and she is again conquering adventure racing courses all over the world.
Blood Therapy
By Abigail Funk Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy made headlines following the Super Bowl, when it was revealed that Pittsburgh Steelers Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu had undergone PRP injections in the days leading up to the game. But what is PRP therapy? And how could it improve the treatment of chronic injuries like tennis elbow and knee tendonitis?
Q&A with Mark O'Neal
By Kenny Berkowitz
Chicago Cubs Head Athletic Trainer Mark O'Neal, LAT, ATC, and his colleagues were named the 2008 Major League Baseball Athletic Training Staff of the Year. In this interview, O'Neal talks about winning the award, the daily challenges of working in the Major Leagues, and preparing for spring training.
Gene Testing
By R.J. Anderson As you look around your locker room or playing field, the evidence of genetic advantages is everywhere. From size and body mass tendencies to speed and coordination, it seems many athletes are born with a predisposition for success in sports--many call it God-given ability. Now, a new genetic test claims to have the ability to identify at a young age whether someone has more potential as a power athlete or as an endurance athlete. However, many people are debating whether or not this type of science does young athletes and our sports culture as a whole any favors.
Prepping for the Pros
With the end of the college football season squarely in our sights, many of college football's elite upperclassmen are looking ahead to their next challenge: preparing for the NFL Scouting Combine. In this feature, Steven Plisk, MS, Director of Excelsior Sports, a coaching and consulting service specializing in professional development and athlete preparation, provides an inside look at the nuts and bolts of this all-important job interview.
By Steven Plisk
H.S. Athlete Death Rate Rises
Are more high school athletes playing through pain or ignoring the signs and symptoms of a possible concussion? Or are they just plain playing "harder" than in the past? Whatever the reasons, there is no avoiding the fact that more high school student-athletes have died from and suffered catastrophic injuries already this school year than in the past several years combined.
By Abigail Funk
Back in Rhythm
By Mike Phelps With school back in session, there is no shortage of headlines about automated external defibrillators (AEDs). This month T&C examines AED news from around the country.
Back From Beijing
By Kyle Garratt David Andrews, ATC, Athletic Trainer at Gig Harbor (Wash.) High School and Northwest Sports Physical Therapy, is back in Washington after spending the summer in Beijing as the Head Athletic Trainer for the U.S. men's Olympic soccer team. In this interview, Andrews talks about preparing for the Olympics, making tough choices, and the difference between working with high school and Olympic athletes.
Heat Illness Study Roundup
By Abigail Funk As we head toward preseason practices for football and other fall sports, heat illness is on every athletic trainer's mind. Here is some of the most recently published heat illness-related research.
Q&A with Dave "DC" Colt
By Abigail Funk T&C would like to congratulate Dave "DC" Colt, MSEd, LAT, ATC, Head Athletic Trainer at Northwest Missouri State University (NWMSU), on his induction into the NATA Hall of Fame last month! In this interview, Colt shares his thoughts on his most recent honor and how the profession has changed during his 27 years in and on the field.
Can Turf Fields Pose Health Risks?
By Dennis Read Athletic trainers are used to watching contests that are played on their teams' fields. Now some are seeing battles being fought over those fields. Recent reports of high lead levels in a few synthetic turf fields have roused critics with concerns about the technology's safety. However, industry leaders strongly stand behind the safety of their products, countering that there is no evidence linking synthetic turf to illness or environmental damage.
Q&A with Jenny Moshak
By Abigail Funk It isn't every day a college athletic trainer is heralded in a front-page story on ESPN.com or in USA Today. But Jenny Moshak, MS, LAT, ATC, CSCS, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine at the University of Tennessee, recently found herself in the media spotlight as she helped to rehab All-American forward Candace Parker in the midst of the Lady Volunteers' run to its eighth NCAA national championship last month. Here, Moshak recounts Parker's injury, what went into her extremely fast rehab in the days before the team's Final Four game, and how Moshak dealt with the sudden onslaught of interview requests and media exposure.
"Runner's High" Gains Traction
By R.J. Anderson New scientific data supports the endorphin-releasing process that has long been hypothesized to follow intense bouts of exercise. The term "runner's high" was once considered folklore by some scientists, but an article published in the March issue of the journal Cerebral Cortex may prompt non-believers to adjust their thinking.
A Sharp Facility
By Nate Dougherty Herb Rhea, ATC, Head Athletic Trainer at Jenks (Okla.) High School, talks about the health and fitness center that was recently constructed at his high school. The facility, which contains an underwater treadmill, also houses a physical therapy clinic run by a local hospital.
Stimulating Discussion
By Danielle Catalano Recently, the State University of New York at Buffalo and the National Football League partnered to study the effectiveness of electrical stimulation in the acute care management of orthopedic injuries and edema formation. Here are some of the findings.
Bridging the Gap
By Dr. James Onate Contributor James Onate, PhD, ATC, Assistant Professor and Director of the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory at Old Dominion University, discusses the need to improve the understanding of applying clinical practice into research and the importance of applying those studies in clinical practice.
Q&A with Steve McCauley
Steve McCauley, LAT, ATC, CSCS, is Head of Health Services for Wynn Las Vegas. He currently provides athletic training services for the 85-member cast of the popular acrobatic show, Le Rève. In this interview, McCauley shares his thoughts on working in the entertainment industry and talks about what it's like to provide coverage for world-class performers.
High Tops and Helping Hands
By Kenny Berkowitz As a member of the Rainier Beach (Wash.) High School Vikings boys' basketball team that won the state title in 1998, Jamal Crawford vowed that if he ever succeeded, he'd give back to his school. Since then, as a shooting guard on the New York Knicks, he's underwritten a $100,000 project to renovate the school gymnasium and created a hometown basketball camp for kids from six to 16 years old. Now, with a benefit called "High Tops and Helping Hands," he's championed a new cause: trying to provide a full-time certified athletic trainer for each of Seattle's 10 public high schools.
Building a Fantastic Facility
By Abigail Funk Dale Mildenberger, MS, ATC, Head Athletic Trainer at Utah State University, says prior to the August opening of USU's new sports medicine facility, the school had the worst physical housing of sports medicine in all of college football--at any division. Spanning a paltry 900 square feet and housing one office with three desks for 14 athletic training staff members, three treatment tables, and five taping stations, Mildenberger no longer wants to remember how difficult it was to administer care for the university's 300 student-athletes.
Q&A with Jeremy Goates
Jeremy Goates, LAT, ATC, is beginning his first year as Head Athletic Trainer at Lawrence (Kans.) High School. Also an athletic trainer at the Kansas Center for Athletic Medicine, Goates is assuming his third full-time head athletic training position at a high school since graduating from the University of Kansas in 2002 and receiving his ATC in 2003. As many athletic trainers across the country begin the school year at a new school, Goates offers some advice on taking advantage of a fresh start.
Q&A with Elaine Winslow-Redmond
Elaine Winslow-Redmond, MS, ATC, performed with the Radio City Rockettes for 11 years. As an athletic trainer, she has created a wellness program for the Rockettes and now is Head Athletic Trainer and Athletic Training Program Director for the troupe. She also serves as an athletic training consultant for the Blue Man Group, the New York Knicks City Dancers, Tap Kids, and the New York City Dance Alliance as well as Norwegian Cruise Lines and the Broadway Theater Dance Workshop.
Winslow-Redmond is a member of the NATA and the association's Council on Employment. She has a BFA in dance from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and an MS in applied physiology and nutrition from Columbia University. Here, she talks about what drew her to the athletic training profession and explains the challenges and rewards of working with world-class performers.
NFL Holds Concussion Discussion
By R.J. Anderson On Tuesday, June 19, many of the country's foremost experts on concussions gathered in Rosemont, Ill., for a breakthrough symposium on an injury that is of growing concern in the athletics community. Prompted largely by the attention surrounding published studies, along with the deaths of four former players in recent years, the NFL Concussion Summit brought league officials and former players together with team physicians, team athletic trainers, and noted neurologists and concussion researchers to discuss prevention techniques and better understand the long-term effects of mild traumatic brain injuries.
Hokies Regroup in Wake of Shootings
By Michael W. Goforth Michael W. Goforth MS, ATC, is Director of Athletic Training for Virginia Tech Athletics On April 16, the institution I call home was attacked by one of its own. At 7:15 a.m., a student killed two of his fellow students in West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall. At 9:01 a.m., he mailed a package of writings and videos outlining his actions to NBC News. Two hours after the first shooting, that student chained the entrance to Norris Hall and proceeded to go on a nine-minute, 170-round killing spree that ended with him taking his own life. When he was done, 33 were dead, 25 were wounded, and an entire community was left devastated by another senseless act of violence. There's no doubt the events of that day will change our university and its students, alumni, and staff forever. As a school that values its athletic programs and our role in the overall student and community environment, we in the athletic department were all left with a desire to contribute in some way to the healing process and help the community get back on its feet.
Weighing in on the NFL Combine
By Kenny Berkowitz Earlier this year, veteran athletic trainer Rex Sharp, MS, ATC, Director of Sports Medicine at the University of Missouri and member of the NATA's District 5 College and University Athletic Trainers Committee, had the chance to attend and observe the National Football League Scouting Combine. A week before the 2007 NFL draft, Sharp talked to T&C about what he took away from the combine, lessons that included the importance of compiling accurate medical records and properly preparing student-athletes for the event.
Preventing MRSA
To help in the fight against MRSA, Training & Conditioning is offering nine free posters you can download and use in your facilities. View Posters »
