Hi Joanna, Thank you for posing an insightful question surrounding recovery that I feel can sometimes be overlooked not only by coaches and administrators, but by providers as well. When it comes to our athletes and their performance it is so easy to ask questions about nutrition, training regimen, and injury prevention strategies that we often overlook how much quality sleep they are getting. I work in the university setting and while most of the athletes are done going through puberty, college life provides it own stressors that contribute to student athletes not getting the sleep they need for proper recovery. Whether it's studying for exams, having a dispute with their significant other, or going out during the season 🙄 it is common for college athletes to hit a wall at some point that is largely due to their sleeping habits. I work with a team that lifts and practices early 3 times a week. With lift starting at 5AM and practice going from 7-8AM on those days before another practice in the afternoon. Athletes are constantly complaining about not being able to maintain a good sleep schedule due to sleeping in too late on the late days and going to bed too late before our early days. Another problem that is becoming more and more pressing is the timing and amount of caffeine athletes intake per day. Some of my athletes have disclosed ingesting upwards of 600mg of caffeine in a day just to feel like they can make it through all of their obligations. I have a few athletes who I check in on regularly about their sleep because when they are not sleeping well it shows through their slower times, prolonged soreness or increased aggravation of existing injuries, and self-talk or motivation in the AT Room. As a team it is also obvious when sleep is playing a factor in performance as a whole. In a sport where times are everything it is a given that during finals week our athletes will be unusually slow at practices. While this can be attributed to many things, there is a high chance sleep is playing a role in their decreased performance. On the other hand during breaks performance can see an uptick as there are less stressors coming from school and more time for athletes to recovery properly. Overall, sleep is something that often gets overlooked during college life, and it is our job to keep on educating our athletes on how to optimize their sleep schedule by providing evidence based solutions that can make a difference in their recovery and performance.

About 5 years ago I bought a nurse’s pocket kit to hold gauze, gloves, penlight, scissors, etc. All the immediate essentials or your favorite items. Anytime I leave the office I throw it in my back pocket and head outside!

The 78 th Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association (EATA) Annual Meeting & Clinical Symposium is taking place Jan 9-12 in Boston this year. Are you planning to attend? Be sure to join me in the EATA Club if so to connect with other pros from the region in attendance (and virtually) and share key insights. https://fieldhouse.gatorade.com/clubs/90-eata-professionals/

Creatine is one of the supplements my athletes ask me about the most. Creatine monohydrate is one of the most consistently effective supplements for increasing muscle phosphocreatine, which translates to measurable in strength, sprint power, and lean mass. Which leads to increases in high‑intensity performance and resistance‑training adaptations, making creatine especially relevant for basketball actions like jumping, sprinting, and explosive changes of direction. Beyond muscle, creatine is now being studied for its effects on brain function. Mostly in the elderly and during periods of sleep deprivation. With the rigorous travel and game schedule found in professional basketball, I have found this to be the better selling point to adherence to supplementation versus just strength and power performance increases.

From the intensity of winter hockey season to the grind of pre-season conditioning, staying fueled and hydrated is critical. Explore these science-backed resources to help your athletes perform at their best all winter long. Foods and Fluids Hockey Male.pdf Foods and Fluids Hockey Female.pdf Foods and Fluids for Endurance Sports.pdf Foods and Fluids for Explosive Power Sports.pdf Science of Hydration.pdf

On 11/14/2025 at 8:56 AM, Bfaulkner51 said: Hi Coach Marquis! I hope you’re doing well. As an athletic trainer, I saw quite a few knee injuries this fall during football, and I’ve been looking ahead to the offseason to see where we can make improvements. I wanted to ask what some of your go-to exercises are in the weight room to help strengthen the legs and reduce knee-related issues. Our athletes already do the basics (squats, lunges, etc.), but we have limited resources in both the training room and the weight room, so I’m trying to work with our coaching staff to build a more effective and well-rounded program. If you have any favorite movements or simple progressions you think would translate well for knee injury prevention—especially things targeting strength, stability, and mobility—I’d really appreciate your insight! Hi! @Bfaulkner51 SO awesome to hear you're already thinking about off-season and what you can add and build to help the guys be more resilient. My name is Coach Autumn Lockwood, and I am an Associate Sports Performance Coach with the Philadelphia Eagles! I am helping Coach Marquis tag team answering some of these questions! Off-season is a great time to build strength, develop power, and make the guys faster. When it comes to exercises in the weight room to help strengthen the legs and reduce knee-related injuries - isometrics (working up to :30-45 seconds), eccentrics (anywhere from :3-:8 seconds depending on the exercise), and isotonic phases (2-2-2 / 3-3-3 / 4-4-4 tempo - working all phases together) with different lower body exercises like - DB/KB squat, barbell squat, leg press, machine leg extensions, multi-directional lunges, leg curls, split squats, etc. are great options. Those help with building tendon strength and resiliency. From there you can add in power development and plyometrics, and movement mechanics. But, having a solid strength foundation is key! Hope this helps! On 11/14/2025 at 11:21 AM, elifels said: Thank you for your time, Coach! What tip(s) would you give a strength coach who is also a parent, on the topic of raising a child to love exercise and sports - while minimizing the likelihood of burnout or pressure from being a coach's child? Hello @elifels this is such an awesome question, thank you for asking this! My name is Coach Autumn Lockwood, and I am an Associate Sports Performance Coach with the Philadelphia Eagles! I am helping Coach Marquis tag team answering some of these questions! I think the best way to go about it is to be the example you want them to see. When you have a good routine that you stick too, and they see you living that out day-by-day, that's the best way to show them that exercising is good for you and sports can teach you something. If you are in a spot where they are able to be around often, that's even better. I don't have kids yet, but I grew up being a coach's kid - my dad coached football at the collegiate level for over 30 years. I was fortunate to always be around the facility, at practice, and at the games. I was able to see firsthand how much my dad loved his job and the impact he had on the players he was coaching. It helped me love football and learn early on how to serve, help develop, and coach others. It taught me early on that change was good - with how many times we moved around growing up, and we met so many awesome people along the way. My dad always pushed me to be the best version of myself while also instilling in me characteristics that helped me decide to become a strength coach and walk in my own path. He never forced sports on me - it was always my choice. But once I made that choice - he was such a great role model and example on how to achieve the goals that I chose for myself just by being the coach and father that he was! Hope this helps! On 11/14/2025 at 12:11 PM, pfitzgerald said: Hi Coach! As a student studying strength and conditioning, I would love to get some insight from you on a few things that I have been discussing in classes. What would you say are your top core values when it comes to coaching? How do you implement those values in your everyday sessions with your athletes? What changes have you seen in the strength coaching profession that you may have had to adapt to? What is the biggest piece of advice you have for a student like me, getting ready to go out into the strength coaching world? Thank you for your time, Coach, and best of luck to you and your athletes! Happy Saturday @pfitzgerald ! My name is Coach Autumn Lockwood, and I am an Associate Sports Performance Coach with the Philadelphia Eagles! I am helping Coach Marquis tag team answering some of these questions! These are awesome questions, and I am glad you guys are discussing them in your classes! My top core values when it comes to coaching are: (1) Athlete's first - every decision you make should be for the betterment of the athletes that you work with to help set them up for success. (2) Wisdom / Knowledge - You want to be a sponge when it comes to working in this field because there is a lot to learn. There is very much an art to coaching - you have to know your stuff and be knowledgeable BUT you also have to have the wisdom to know when to implement certain things and where. (3) Serve - this field and industry is very much a serving people industry. Throughout your career there will be so many different ways to serve your athletes, coworkers, coaches, support staff, and your organization. (4) Self-Awareness / Self-Assessment / Self-Leadership : this is my three-tier system on what I use to help development myself and my athletes. It's how you can continue to be a lifelong learner in this career. Showing up consistently every day. Being authentically who you are as a person and never trying to be someone that you are not. Building a system that makes sense for you so that you are able to shift and be adaptable to any organization that you work for (that takes time). Sports science being added over the last 10 years has been something that I have had to learn and grow with as it's grown itself. There are so many tools now that help us make the best decisions for our athletes. Playing load management is a big part of this. Doing your research on 1080 sprint, Nord Bord Assessment, Force Plates, Velocity Based Training, GPS Player Load Tracking, and movement screens would be so helpful because more and more programs are using them now. Obtain as much experience as you can while you're a student. See if you're able to intern in the weight room, constantly ask questions. Work with multiple different sports so you see how they all operate. Network at the CSCCa and the NSCA conferences. Do all that you can for personal development with different sources of knowledge. Read the latest research articles and strength and conditioning foundational books. And never feel like you need to know it all at once - allow yourself to continue to learn as much as you can throughout your career! Hope this helps! On 11/14/2025 at 11:22 AM, ATWilson17 said: Hey Coach! Coaching philosophy wise do you believe more in sport specific training or building balanced athletes? What do you consider to be the fundamentals of strength and conditioning? Where did you get your start in strength and conditioning and what keeps you passionate about your work? Thank you for your time. Happy Monday @ATWilson17 ! My name is Coach Autumn Lockwood, and I am an Associate Sports Performance Coach with the Philadelphia Eagles! I am helping Coach Marquis tag team answering some of these questions! Good questions! I personally believe more in building a balanced athlete, because in doing so, you are building the proper foundation of strength, power, speed, etc and that only helps when you get to the more sport specific on-field (or respective playing surface) needs. The goal is always to build resilient athletes that are able to handle the demands of their sport/position. The fundamentals of strength and conditioning, keeping it simple, fall into four buckets, progressive overload/GPP, specificity, individualization, and recovery. There are many modalities that you can go about to achieve those goals, but starting with a solid foundation is always key. From there its's build around the athletes you work with, the time of year it is, how much time you get with them, and so on. I got my start at my Alma Mater, University of Arizona, underneath my former strength coach which was an absolute blessing. The people (athletes, coworkers, coaches) keep me passionate about my work. I love people. And the fact that there is so much to learn, this field turns you into a lifelong learner. Hope this helps!

Hey there from California! I'm a HS AT, and wanted to show some holiday spirit with the classic Gatorade Cup wreath! Happy Holidays!

The Book of Five Rings, by Miyamoto Musashi. While on the surface this focuses on kendo strategy, it is much more than that. Mindset is a key element to this text.

“Strong enough” in basketball isn’t about the amount of volume/intensity an athlete can handle in the weight room. It’s about having the strength that actually shows up on court. A basketball athlete is strong enough when they can control their body through dynamic movement, produce force efficiently, and maintain posture, balance, and coordination at game speed. It means their tissues can tolerate and handle decelerations, landings, and contact without breaking down through a match or demanding season. The strength they build in the weight room transfers to holding their line, creating separation, and sustaining performance over long minutes and heavy schedules. In short, being strong enough is the ability to move well, handle force, stay durable, and repeat your best actions consistently not just lift heavy.

As an athletic trainer who works in baseball primarily with rehab and return to play progressions on the minor league end of things, I am curious how others progress players back from lower extremity injuries on the running progression front. We have recently started using yardage data to program how much and often we are running and yardage goals prior to getting back into games as well as the standard intensity progression. We have also been able to utilize average times around the base paths to make sure they are reaching a normal intensity before returning to games. Does anyone have any additional metrics they look at when progressing running or looking at readiness for return to games from a lower body injury?