Explorations of Benefits and Challenges to Strength and Conditioning Training for Incoming Collegiate Athletes

Abstract

The first-year college experience for student-athletes (SAs) provides opportunities for growth, but also several challenges. One of these challenges is the adaptation to the greater frequency and intensity of collegiate strength and conditioning (S&C) training. This project aimed to investigate how SAs perceived the S&C environment in terms of benefits and challenges in their transition to collegiate athletics. A qualitative research design with individual semi-structured interviews was used for the project. Eleven participants (7 males and 4 females) who had less than 24 months of collegiate sport experience and from a variety of collegiate sports were interviewed. We used thematic analysis and found multiple themes over two research questions. In terms of benefits, SAs perceptions aligned in themes that included Physical Benefits, Sport Performance, Psychological Benefits, and Injury Prevention/Recovery. Barriers identified by SAs included Increased Physical Demands, Limitations in Prior Knowledge, External Demands, Inter/Intrapersonal Concerns, and Lack of Resources. S&C coaches should understand what the most apparent challenges are and how to best address these challenges to support SAs needs. When comparing individuals, there is a nuance and uniqueness to every SA, and these results are a first step in understanding the challenges SAs perceive and providing guidelines for S&C coaches to follow.