Strength & Conditioning Mission

To provide a combination of strength and speed disciplines that will enable Georgetown student-athletes to be the strongest, fastest, and most explosive collegiate athletes in the nation - PERIOD.

PHILOSOPHY

STRENGTH: Olympic lifting techniques are one of the most widely used by S&C coaches all over the country. Using these lifts teaches the athlete advanced movements while putting the muscular skeletal system under stress and creates positive adaptations. This will mirror what the athlete undergoes during competition.

SPEED & EXPLOSION: Power is the ability to generate large amounts of force at a high rate of speed. Explosiveness is the ability to generate power in a short amount of time. These two principles can be applicable to every athlete regardless of sport or position. Training power and explosion is developed through many aspects of training such as strength training, speed and agility development, and flexibility. The one rep maximum testing protocol is used to figure out an athlete's power and explosiveness which can be broken down into training cycles to train this aspect. Some tools used to train these qualities include: barbells, platforms, benches, vert-max, and medicine balls.

FLEXIBILITY: Static, Dynamic, and Proprioceptive Nueromuscular Facilitation are the three main components of flexibility. Static stretching consists of passively stretching a muscle and holding for a period of time usually 20-30 seconds. Dynamic Stretching involves the muscles being stretched to move in an active process to stretch the muscle to full range of motion. PNF stretching involves static and muscular activation to enhance flexibility. This method requires assistance from another athlete or coach. Using these three methods helps prevent injury, improve muscle activation, prevents delayed onset muscle soreness, and increases range of motion. Some tools used to enhance flexibility include: other athletes or coaches assistance, bands, walls, barbells, benches, and platforms.

SPEED: Speed training is used to enhance the athlete's ability to get from A to B as fast as possible. Speed training involves teaching the athlete proper body mechanics to optimize sprinting performance. An athlete's reflexes and reaction time are critical points of speed training. Teaching these tools can help the athlete react to make a play or get to where they need to be in a competitive setting. Tools used in speed training range from coaching these mechanics to using medicine balls, hurdles, 60 meter track, speed ladder, harnesses, and first step quickness techniques.

AGILITY: Agility is the ability to own a certain amount of space around you. An athlete must able to react as quickly as possible in all directions for any type of situation. Spatial awareness and muscular coordination play major roles in agility training. Moving 360 degrees in any direction at a split second reaction is what the athlete is training for. Most collegiate sports can benefit from this type of training to enhance athlete performance. Tools used to improve agility include: medicine balls, dotted or numbered floor sequences, speed ladder, 60 meter track, hurdles, and cones.

CORE: Core training in recent years has become a major part of strength training for the athlete. "If you want to be strong on the outside, you must be strong on the inside." The core consists of 36 muscles in and around the abdominal area and lower back region. This is very important piece in the athlete's muscular skeletal chain. It helps protect the athlete from injury while optimizing performance through keeping the vertebral column erect and ready to react when called upon. Technology and strength coaches all over the world are constantly inventing new ways to challenge the core. Some of the most popular ways to train this system include: stability balls, medicine balls, weight room plates, cables, bands, barbells, benches, platforms, and machines.

NUTRITION: A strength training body can only perform as long as it's getting an adequate supply of fuel. An athlete's calorie intake is under high demand during a full training cycle. They need adequate calories from all major food groups and minerals that will keep the athlete at optimal training performance. This is the most underestimated and widely ignored aspect of training. Athletes are usually eating whatever is within their financial budgets or what is provided to them by a parent or guardian. At the collegiate level, this needs to be monitored to ensure the athlete is consuming the right amounts of calories to optimize training and competition, as well as preventing malnutrition and weight loss during the season.

COACHING: Strength coaches are the central piece of an athletic department. They play a big brother/sister role in watching all athletic teams and individuals every move and making sure they are on the right path. They motivate all athletes from every sport to constantly challenge themselves and create positive reinforcement for adaptation. They are the only staff that has ongoing interaction with our athletes throughout the year and provide quantitative measures to show improvement and ultimately increase self-confidence!