BY Mikenzie Carbone
Assistant Sports Editor
Sacred Heart University recently established a Strength, Speed, and Conditioning Program for club sports. The main goal of the program is to provide club sport athletes with the ability to develop attitude, work ethic, mental toughness, disciple and pride, in-self and total program.
Mike Statuti is the head Strength and Conditioning coach and is in charge of the entire program. Statuti has worked with the Pioneers club football team for the past three years as the Associate Head Club Football Coach.
“My hope is to not only make our athletes perform better and be injury-free, but to also plant a seed in them that will grow into a healthy and active lifestyle for the rest of their lives,” said Statuti. “If we can educate our athletes to feel comfortable and confident enough to train, then I feel like this program has done its job.”
The new Bobby Valentine Athletic Center is home to the new Strength, Speed, and Conditioning Program as well as all other club sports teams. The new program allows athletes to work out consistently in a new, clean, and professional environment.
According to Sacred Heart Athletics, the program is broken down into two well-organized spaces of performance using Peak Performance-Block to allow student athletes to reach their maximum potential: the weight room and movement training.
The weight room is where the athletes use an up-to-date scientific program that builds the individual’s strength that will benefit their power in a specific sport.
“The first space being in the weight room where our athletes will be using the most up to date scientific approaches,” said Statuti. “Such as the Triphasic and Conjugate methods, to build strength that will convert to specific power demands in each athlete’s specific sport.”
The movement training allows athletes to improve their efficiency by increasing their joint and muscle threshold.
“Movement is where our athletes will be training to increase joint and muscle threshold, and applying the strength and power gained from the weight room into speed and agility on the field,” said Statuti. “Using unique technical drills for linear speed, lateral movements, and multi-directional movements, each student-athlete is able to improve efficiency for Sport Specific Applications.”
The program is available for club athletes both in season and during the off season.
“During the season, we will train with more specific movement patterns and our percentages in the weight room will vary based on the workload the athletes have on the field,” said Statuti. “During the off-season, our training process follows a strict protocol called General Preparation Phase (GPP). GPP allows the athlete to recover from their season and create general adaptation.”
To join, athletes must register through the online portal on the club sports website and complete all Do Sports Easy paperwork and necessary medical paperwork. A student’s physical is required and a form is provided by the club sports department prior to beginning the program.
