ITHACA, N.Y. – Created in 2014 with the hiring of Victor Brown as head coach, the Ithaca College strength and conditioning program has grown tremendously during that time and the implementation of this program has shown positive effects on the athletics teams at IC.

Since the beginning of the 2014 academic school year, Ithaca College athletics has garnered more than 100 All-Americans, 40 conference championships and 13 individual national titles.

What began with the hiring of Brown as the lone member of the program, the strength and conditioning program now currently has three student-assistants and two graduate assistants. This is the first year (2018-19) where the integrated learning exemplar project between the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences and Athletics has been implemented.  Collaborating with Dave Diggin, Assistant Professor, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, undergraduate exercise science students are immerse in a dynamic and well – structured learning environment for practicum and internship experiences.  Additionally, graduate students earn an opportunity to bridge the gap between theoretical and professional preparation in strength and conditioning.

What makes the Ithaca College strength and conditioning program unique is the experiential student-led and integrated learning opportunity.

"I saw a tremendous opportunity to develop our students athletically and academically," stated Brown. "Upon my appointment, I met with coaches individually to learn about their program (i.e. culture, weight room experience) and vision of how strength and conditioning could support their program.  Additionally, the Integrated Learning Exemplar Project between the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences and Athletics was in its infancy stage."

The expansion of the program, along with Brown's vision and interactions with the coaches at Ithaca, has culminated in a top-notch strength and conditioning department on South Hill. Not only do the graduate and students assistants have the opportunity to work in state-of-the-art facilities, they also are afforded the chance to interact with one of the best athletics programs in NCAA Division III on a daily basis.

Brown holds weekly staff meetings with the graduate assistants and bi-monthly in-services for professional development.  Topics include performance testing and evaluation, Olympic and power lifts, program design, in-season vs. off-season periodization models, and professional advancement to name a few. Additionally, he has brought in Dr. Greg Shelley to discuss leadership and coaching, and they make a yearly trip each spring to East Hill to collaborate with the Cornell University Strength and Conditioning Staff.

The graduate students start the process and report prior to preseason camp for two-days of educational in-services and individual meetings.  "This allows us to get up to speed with initial policies and procedures, individual team planning (i.e. the annual training plan) and education pertinent to the daily operations of the strength and conditioning department," says Brown. 

Additionally, the students gain valuable experience collaborating on testing and evaluation of the fall athletic teams, coaching introductory strength training sessions, leading restoration, and start the relationship building with sport coaches and student – athletes.

"Early on in their development, I expect the first – year graduate students to develop repoire, coach and implement the Ithaca College strength and conditioning training model," Brown says.  "The exiting graduate student and I will have already collaborated on preseason / block one programming for a said team.  After coaching a team for 1 – 2 years, they will have been in the most appropriate position to evaluate how to move the program forward."

This gives the first – year graduate students time to learn and evaluate.  They resume daily programming responsibilities and the opportunity to build out the annual training plan using the Ithaca College Strength and Conditioning System for their assigned teams in block two (mid / late October).  This ensures 1. The graduate students learn a training model and 2. Long – term student – athlete athletic development.

"Overall, our strength and conditioning philosophy is rooted in the belief that competing at the highest level and keeping athletes healthy are interchangeable.  The foundation of success is year round preparation that comes with consistency.  Maintaining health puts the student – athlete in the best possible position to succeed by consistently competing and improving on the playing field and putting in the supportive work in the weight room to improve speed, strength and conditioning levels."

With the landscape of each team changing yearly, Coach Brown constantly evaluates each team's performance and health execution strategy with the assistance of the athletic training staff.  "The athletic training staff does a tremendous service by collecting injury data on each team," he says.  "At the completion of each sport season, by request, I will review each team and look for injury trends.  Additionally, the graduate student staff and I will meet with the sport coaches to review and evaluate the year."

Ithaca College Strength and Conditioning strives to become the standard of excellence for a student – centered learning environment while competing at the highest level.