Football (2015)

Brian T. Gearity, PhD, CSCS*D, RSCCLike millions of other young athletes, I opened the door to strength and conditioning (S&C) because I was a high school football player. Embedded in football culture is knowing that lifting weights helps you gain muscle mass, strength, and speed. Although the “Iron Man” award I won during my senior year of high school for dedication to football S&C is buried away in a storage box, my passion for S&C and curiosity to understand how to enhance athletic performance endures. I went on to play college football and used my growing knowledge of S&C to help improve myself and my teammates' athletic performance. After earning my Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) credential as a senior in college, yet another door opened and I took a position as a graduate assistant S&C coach at a university working directly with football. Many S&C coaches before my time helped to create these opportunities, and I am thankful for their vision and commitment to our field. The field of S&C and the NSCA owe a lot to the integration of S&C to football. Football-specific S&C helped pave the way for Boyd Epley and others, mainly football S&C coaches, who founded the NSCA in 1978. Much of the early research, application, and discourse in S&C was intertwined with football. Indeed, in the United States, college football programs and the National Football League (NFL) served as an incubator for coaches, ideas, and research to flourish. In a relatively short period of time, sport coaches and others took note of how S&C enhanced football players' performance and reduced soft tissue injuries. In many ways, football helped S&C to become widely accepted. It is no secret that in recent years, football has come under scrutiny for contributing to debilitating and often permanent physical and psychological injuries from sustained participation. Furthermore, athletes and coaches will continue to seek ways to push past the always unknown limits of human performance. Unlike our colleagues in allied health fields who seek to return athletes to participation, S&C has eternally been about performance enhancement, and this difference comes with new risks, challenges, and responsibilities. Concern for the well-being of football players—human beings—from youth to professional is warranted. As a former high school and collegiate football S&C coach, I knew I had the power to shape others' lives through their experience in the weight room. It is imperative upon all of us that in addition to enhancing performance, we continue to understand how to prevent acute and chronic physical and psychological injuries. It is our shared responsibility to conduct more and better research, to develop effective and safe practices, and have the thinking skills to advance football S&C. I call upon all of us to develop relationships and collaborations with others to achieve these worthy ideals. This special issue is our collective contribution to these ideals. Included in this special issue are articles covering the gamut of football S&C topics, such as injury prevention, long-term health, conditioning, speed, strength, agility, power, the psychology of performance and reflective thinking. As is the case with special issues of Strength & Conditioning Journal, the collective efforts of many made this vision a reality. Once again, I appreciate the opportunity and direction provided by Editor-in-Chief Dr. Jeff Chandler and the efficiency of Managing Editor Britt Chandler. The Senior Editorial Staff of Strength & Conditioning Journal would like to thank Dr. William Kraemer for initiating this special topic issue and for his feedback and support during the editorial process. I offer my heart felt thanks to the steadfast contributors who worked diligently for months upon years to submit, revise, and craft well-informed articles. And finally, a special thanks to the reviewers for their insight and constructive feedback. On behalf of the Strength & Conditioning Journal and the authors of this issue, we are pleased to present this special issue devoted to football S&C!Figure