An examination of current practices and gender differences in strength and conditioning in a sample of varsity high school athletic programs.

Currently, little is known about strength and conditioning programs at the high school level. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore current practices in strength and conditioning for varsity high school athletes in selected sports. The following were specifically examined: who administers programs for these athletes, what kinds of training activities are done, and whether the responsible party or emphasis changes depending on the gender of the athletes. Coaches of varsity soccer, basketball, softball, and baseball in 3 large Idaho school districts were asked to complete an online survey. Sixty-seven percent (32/48) of the questionnaires were completed and used for the study. The majority of coaches (84%) provided strength and conditioning opportunities for their athletes, although only 37% required participation. Strength training programs were designed and implemented primarily by either physical education teachers or head coaches. Compared with coaches of male athletes, coaches of female athletes were less likely to know the credentials of their strength coaches, and they were less likely to use certified coaches to plan and implement their strength and conditioning programs. Most programs included dynamic warm-ups and cool-downs, plyometrics, agility training, speed training, and conditioning, and most programs were conducted 3 d·wk(-1) (76%) for sessions lasting between 30 and 59 minutes (63%). Compared with their female counterparts, male athletes were more likely to have required training, participate in strength training year round, and train using more sessions per week. This study provides additional information related to the practice of strength and conditioning in a sample of high school athletic teams.

Motivation, goal orientation, coaching, and training habits of women ultrarunners.

Ultrarunners participate in running events that exceed the 26.2-mile marathon distance (e.g., 50k, 50-100 miles). Very little research exists on ultrarunners, especially women. This study is a descriptive study detailing the motivation, goal orientation, demographic characteristics (e.g., age, job demands, family structure), training habits (e.g., hours per week of training), and coach utilization of women ultrarunners. Participants (N = 344) were recruited via the Ultra List serve and 4 popular ultrarunning websites, and they completed a questionnaire on motivation, goal orientation, training, and coaching using Survey Monkey. General health orientation (mean ± SD) (4.71 ± 1.06) and psychological coping (4.71 ± 1.03) were the 2 strongest motivational factors. Participants were higher in task orientation (1.38 ± 0.68) (e.g., finishing the race or accomplishing various goals) than ego orientation (3.38 ± 1.01) (e.g., placing in the top 3 overall or beating an opponent). Women trained an average of 12.49 h·wk(-1) and spent 64% of their time training alone. Training information came from their own experience, blogs, websites, and the Ultra List Serve. Over three-fourths of the participants (80%) did not use a coach because of cost and a perceived lack of necessity. Women ultrarunners in this study were task oriented, internally motivated, health, and financially conscious individuals. With additional information about women ultrarunners, coaches will be better prepared to work with this population and ultrarunners can improve their performance by learning about current participants' practices.