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As the school year starts back up and athletes return from summer break, I thought this would be a good time to talk about some programming considerations when returning from an extended break. We all want to believe that our athletes followed their summer training plan, but realistically, some probably did their own thing while others may have taken the summer completely off. Although you may have had a few athletes complete the full training packet, we still need to account for the fact that they are returning to a structured training environment. One of the biggest things I consider is not trying to do too much too soon. This includes too much variety in movements, too much volume or intensity, and overly complex or unstructured programming. I also like to give athletes 2–4 weeks before conducting any formal testing or evaluations. That initial period is a great opportunity to gradually build them back up, establish expectations, and get a feel for where they are physically before doing any type of max-effort testing or conditioning tests. From a programming standpoint, I think things should be relatively simple and general early on. This is a great time to emphasize work capacity, add muscle mass, and improve technical proficiency. One way to accomplish all of that is by incorporating tempo work into the program. Tempo work can help reinforce movement patterns, create time under tension, and provide progressive overload while also help establish the pace and flow of the training session. Another consideration that can easily be overlooked is that athletes are not just athletes. They are also students. When they return to campus, they are balancing training, practices, academics, social life, and everything else that comes with being a student-athlete. There is a lot being thrown at them during that first month, so managing their overall workload becomes extremely important. I also think this is a great time to meet with the performance team and coaching staff to discuss the upcoming season. Getting everyone on the same page early can help establish expectations, identify potential conflicts, and create a more cohesive plan for managing workloads throughout the semester. If you are interested in learning more on high-performance meeting points from the Strength and Conditioning perspective, please refer to @powellm412 discussion post, “Getting the School Year Started Off on the Right Foot,” as I go more in-depth there! I’d love to hear from everyone else— what are some of the biggest considerations you have when programming for athletes returning from a long summer break? Do you have specific strategies you use during those first few weeks to gradually build them back up?

I really like the emphasis on making hydration a daily habit rather than something athletes only think about once practice starts. From an athletic training perspective, I think the biggest takeaway is that hydration needs to be individualized. Two athletes can participate in the same practice but have very different sweat rates and fluid needs. I would also emphasize the connection between hydration and performance. Dehydration can affect an athlete’s ability to maintain intensity, concentration, and thermoregulation, which becomes especially important in basketball where athletes are repeatedly sprinting, changing direction, and working at high intensities. Environmental conditions also need to be considered, particularly during preseason training when athletes may be returning from summer break and aren't necessarily acclimatized to the heat. One area where I think athletic trainers can have a significant impact is helping athletes understand their individual needs rather than simply telling everyone to “drink more.” Monitoring body weight before and after training, paying attention to sweat rate, and educating athletes on when electrolytes may be beneficial can help create a more personalized approach. Ultimately, hydration should be treated as another component of athlete preparation and recovery—not just a response to feeling thirsty. When coaches, strength and conditioning staff, and athletic trainers consistently reinforce that message, athletes are more likely to develop habits that carry over into practice, competition, and recovery.

Hey Connor! I like this topic a lot. I think it is extremely important to evaluate ourselves and seek feedback from others to continue growing both professionally and personally. From a professional standpoint as a strength and conditioning coach, something I have learned over the years is the value of doing an annual evaluation of the sport(s) I worked with. Some areas I may include in that evaluation are: Injuries/Player Availability: What injuries occurred during the competitive season? We’re there any injury trends? How did player availability compare to previous years? Areas of Strength: What went well throughout the year, both objectively and subjectively? Areas of Improvement: What could have been better, and what can I learn from those areas? Programming Considerations: Reflecting on the programming and determining what may need to change for the following year. Are we losing a lot of players to graduation? Will we have a younger roster? Is the style of play changing? Are there coaching staff changes? Data/Performance Metrics: What data did we use to track performance, and what trends did we see throughout the year? Training Phases: What did each training phase consist of, and did the frequency and training goals align with what the team needed? Doing a deeper sport analysis, along with getting feedback from coaching staffs, performance team members, and supervisors, has helped me continue to grow as a professional. It also gives me a better starting point for the following year and helps ensure that I am not simply repeating what we did the previous year without evaluating whether it was effective.

Hey Everyone! Wanted to circle back as the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Position Statement: Evaluation of Dietary Supplements for Athlete Safety and Performance has officially published in the Journal of Athletic Training! Please check it out and let us know what you think!

Hello! Thanks for the reply and for sharing those awesome ideas! I've found some success in diving into the research and showing the actual performance decreases at different levels of dehydration. I'm not sure exactly what exists for baseball. But here is an example of what exists for basketball: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17596779/ This study shows slower sprint speed and fewer shots made as level of dehydration increases. I still believe the most effective ways to get an athlete to hydrate is to couple a strong WHY this is important message with influencing as much of their environment as possible. We need to get beverages to look as available and appealing as possible in our facilities and then teach athletes to set up a similarly appealing hydration environment in their classrooms, homes, and as they travel around :)

Is there a way to get sponsorship from Gatorade?

Hey Joe! I really like the model you followed and agree with your theory of combining acceleration and tempo training in the same session, especially for team sport athletes. I have followed something similar in the past by combining acceleration and tempo work. I think a lot of it depends on the overall setup and what is feasible within the schedule, facilities, and total training time. When I worked with softball in the past, I typically followed an acceleration day, max velocity day, and change-of-direction/agility day paired with the lift days for the higher-intensity work. Then, we had one tempo running day and one non-impact conditioning day for the lower-intensity, higher-volume work. This allowed us to maintain a high-low model while also facilitating recovery between sessions. I am curious how you have incorporated change-of-direction/agility work within your high-speed running plan and if you have included any additional conditioning work specifically for your pitchers. Great article, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the conversation Ashley! In basketball, I think this is where our data tracking and injury monitoring can really help guide the progression. We are not just looking at whether an athlete is “healthy” or “injured”; we are looking at how they are tolerating the cumulative demands of basketball. We can monitor practice minutes, conditioning volume, strength-training loads, GPS data when available, and individual injury or treatment trends. If a player is coming back from an injury, we can compare their current workload to their previous baseline and gradually increase exposure rather than simply clearing them and allowing them to go right back into a full practice. We also look at what the athlete is actually being exposed to within practice—full-court transition, repeated sprinting, defensive slides, jumping and landing, change of direction, and overall practice minutes. An athlete may tolerate a controlled individual workout but still not be ready for the repeated high-intensity demands of a full basketball practice. One advantage basketball has, particularly at the collegiate level, is that we have a little more time to build toward the competitive season. We have several weeks between the start of school and the beginning of the season to progressively increase basketball-specific demands. That gives us an opportunity to identify athletes who may not be at the same level they were before the summer break and gradually build their capacity rather than forcing them immediately into full competition demands. That is different from some sports where preseason begins almost immediately after athletes return to campus and the competitive season follows shortly after. Those sports may have a much smaller window to identify deficiencies and safely progress workload. In basketball, if we use that additional time appropriately, we can move from individual work, to controlled team activities, to higher-intensity practices, and eventually to full competitive demands in a much more intentional manner. This is also where “doing less” can actually allow us to do more. If our injury monitoring or workload data shows an increase in soreness, treatment needs, or overall stress, we may reduce practice volume or modify certain drills rather than taking the athlete completely out. That allows us to maintain fitness and skill exposure while controlling the specific stressor that may be exceeding their current capacity. Ultimately, I think the goal is to use the time we have in basketball to our advantage. Rather than waiting until an athlete is struggling once the season begins, we can use the preseason window to identify trends, establish individual baselines, progressively increase workloads, and make adjustments along the way. The more information we can gather during that period, the better position we are in to have our athletes physically prepared when the games actually count.

My biggest questions are: How can strength and conditioning, athletic training, and coaching staffs better coordinate off-season workload progression to ensure athletes build capacity and performance while minimizing injury risk? When basketball players train outside of the team facility during the offseason with independent strength coaches, skill trainers, or performance staffs, who ultimately has responsibility for coordinating their total workload, monitoring injury risk, and ensuring that their off-season training aligns with the team’s performance and sports medicine goals?