Exeter has always been comfortable with the does category, but during a curricular review, the department sought to enhance the knows and values aspect for our students. Hands-on experimental presentations seem to accomplish this most effectively, and the notion of a sports science lab was born. The heart-rate monitor, which looks like a watch, is as much the center of the lab as the computers. On a fall afternoon, senior Meredith Coogan was in the sports science lab with her field hockey teammates and Nekton, analyzing the physiological changes to her heart rate that had occurred during a workout. We checked how much of the time my heart rate stayed within my target zone and how long recovery took.
Recovery time is an indicator of fitness.
What s fun is to compare recovery time from the start of a season to the end to see how it has improved. Dan Morrissey, the Academy s strength and conditioning coach, has used the heart-rate monitors extensively in his classes, and he has gradually integrated other software programs into the lab component of his courses as well. In his senior studies course called Sports Science, which is taken mostly by varsity athletes, he likes to use the A.D.A.M. program to teach basic sports-related anatomy and the cardiovascular system. This program illustrates muscles, their origins and insertions in good graphic detail, and Morrissey believes it is a valuable training tool. A.D.A.M. helps these highly competitive athletes train more efficiently, which makes for improved performance, he says.