Strength & Conditioning Staff
With the recent completion of the Peterson Performance Center, New Haven Student Athletes now have a unique facility that rivals professional sports teams and Power 5 schools, taking strength training to a new level.
The Peterson Performance Center is a 30,000 square foot three-story facility that includes 20 Olympic weightlifting platforms, 20 squat racks, 10 Vertimax jump testers, four sets of self leveling dumbbell sets from 5-120 lbs, and a 55-yard indoor turf.
Housed within the Peterson Performance Center is a state-of-the-art Sports Medicine suite that includes eight training tables, hydro therapy tubs, a recovery room and sport performance lab, all utilizing the most up to date equipment and software. Additionally, thanks to the support of alums David & Penny Loane, the Peterson Performance Center includes the Charger Fuel Station where student-athletes will have the opportunity to receive nutrition bars, protein shakes and specialized grab-and-go mels designed for athletes.
Also housed within the PPC is a 2,500 square foot football locker room with built in lockers for 136 student-athletes. Phase two of the project will include the construction of office and meeting space on the third floor.
Strength & Conditioning Mission
The University of New Haven strength and conditioning program supports the mission of both the department of athletics and the University. In addition, the University of New Haven strength and conditioning program fosters a positive, safe, challenging, training environment to help all student-athletes maximize their athletic potential while decreasing the chance of sport related injuries.
Our approach allows coaches and athletes to work together towards developing an athlete's full physical and mental potential while reducing the chance of injury.
The focal points of our training programs are: Injury prevention, functional strength training, sport specific speed and agility development, sport specific conditioning and work capacity, flexibility and proper dietary practices.
Strength & Conditioning Philosophy
The philosophy of New Haven's strength & conditioning program is to utilize a variety of training exercises, techniques, tools and programs performed with the proper techniques to prepare the body for the physical demands of sports and to prevent injuries and increase the chances of success in sport and in life. This philosophy is based on several sport development performances principles:
1. Character – We emphasize sportsmanship, honor, commitment, dedication, hard work, sacrifice, unity, fun, competitiveness, accountability, the ability to overcome adversity, selflessness and leadership. These traits are the keys to be and have a successful athletic career and life.
2. Sport Specific Training – We will train sport-similar to movements and metabolic demands in a sport using equipment and training devices that will help simulate the sport movements and metabolic demands with more resistance. By training in this manner, athletes will develop the appropriate energy systems, promote muscular adaptations that will help lead them to superior sports performances, and decrease the risk of injury.
3. Multiple Joint Exercises – During sport performance, no one body part is working as an isolated movement. The body is working together in an integrated, synergistic approach utilizing preceptors, joints and muscles to move through movement patterns quickly, efficiently and powerfully. Any motion in sport requires proper training in multiple joint movements, so proper timing of muscular recruitment patterns may occur. Thus, training the athlete in this manner by utilizing exercises that promote multi-jointed movements which helps to maximize the functional and athletic performance of that athlete.
4. Multi-Plane Movements – With the exception of some sports, most are preformed in three planes: frontal (forward/backward), transverse (up/down) and sagittal (side-to-side). Developing a training program that utilizes these movement patterns will be help the athlete agility and quickness in their sport. Only free weights have the ability for the body to move through these patterns. Thus, incorporating agility training on top of sprinting will have a greater impact on sports performance.
5. Ground Base Movements – The key to any training program are exercises and drills performed with feet on the ground. Examples are squats, Olympic lifts, agility drills, plyometric drills; these are all ground based movements that will increase speed and power production.
6. Explosive training – Most sports require quick and explosive movements that are multi jointed and ground based. Training the athlete to generate this type of explosion requires the motor recruitment of fast twitch muscle fiber. Training the athlete in this manner will improve the recruitment of these muscle fiber motor units and increase the athlete’s performances potential.
7. Periodization – Is the scientific and systematic way of training the body using percentages, volume and progressive overload to achieve the optimal training program for that sport and individual.
8. Nutrition and Recovery – Without these two factors performances and improvements will suffer. We will educate the athlete on proper nutritional diets and sleep for their sport and health. So the athlete can reach their full potential in their sport performance.
