Everyone in the sports field likely knows the importance of tracking data to measure athletes’ progress over time. But useful metrics vary from sport to sport, so how do you determine what to measure, and how do you actually collect the data? Coach Chris Finn walks readers through the steps to implement useful and effective data collection at their own facility.

Athletes can rise from the most inauspicious of beginnings with proper coaching and consistency. Coach Graham Eaton explains how to increase an athlete’s speed with movement exercises that develop maximum velocity and acceleration at the high school level.

Coaches spend a lot of time reviewing research, theory, and movement biomechanics but often don’t have good information on how to plan and implement a basic speed session. Sport performance expert Derek M. Hansen shares details on how to plan a sprint training session for sport and track and field coaches.

It’s no secret that athlete management systems are exceptional tools to integrate data from various technology sources. Coach Brendon Ziegler also discovered that an AMS—here, specifically, CoachMePlus—offers protection to coaches, their staff, and their athletes through its ability to document and archive training programs.

Under the right circumstances, game-day lifting can be a productive option. Under the wrong circumstances, it could undermine performance. Coach Mark Hoover discusses his approach to game-day lifting with his high school sports teams. By the time his players step on the field Friday nights, they are fully recovered from the morning lift.

Coach Craig Cheek looks at the many ways that strength and conditioning of high school athletes differs from that of college- and pro-level athletes, including training time, facility availability, club sports encroachment, parental participation, and so much more.

Slicing data into smaller metrics helps identify how an athlete is practicing and playing, but first you need a reliable athlete tracking system to gather that data. While many athlete tracking companies use sensors on the torso, new sports technology companies like PlayerMaker are changing the game with on-foot sensors that collect actual foot strike data, not estimations from the top of the athlete’s body.

When athletes get ill, especially with bacterial infections, medical professionals often prescribe medications in the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics (e.g., Ciprofloxacin, Levaquin). However, Rob Panariello cautions that coaches, practitioners, and rehab professionals may want to consider alternatives. Here, he presents both research-based and anecdotal evidence that the use of fluoroquinolones can cause increased Achilles tendinopathy and Achilles tendon ruptures in athletes.