Key result
Integrating health and performance via sport science departments emerges as best practice for collegiate athletics.
Why the study?
The high-performance model has limits in collegiate athletics, prompting the need for comprehensive integration of health and performance support through sport science.
This article provides guidance on establishing a sport science department to comprehensively integrate student-athlete health and performance support in collegiate athletics.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Proposes integrated sport science departments for collegiate athletics; leaves open prospective validation of health and performance benefits.
This article provides an overarching view on establishing a sport science department that fosters comprehensive integration of student-athlete health and performance support in collegiate athletics. Collegiate athletic departments have adopted the high-performance model to help manage the complex health and performance needs of their student-athletes. Considered best practice by many, the high-performance model has limits in collegiate athletics, whereas comprehensive integration is the next generation of best practice. It combines every available resource to establish unprecedented health and performance support. This is accomplished, in part, by collaborating with academic, health care, and industry stakeholders who can fill persistent gaps in the broad services, knowledge, and expertise required to meet the ever-evolving health and performance challenges faced by athletic departments. A well-designed sport science department can facilitate this process by establishing mutually beneficial partnerships to fulfill various service, research, education, or innovation initiatives. This article details the role of the sport scientist in establishing comprehensive integration. It guides athletic departments who wish to begin a sport science program, as well as those who wish to expand their current sport science structure. See Video 1—Video Abstract, http://links.lww.com/SCJ/A369.
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Rimer et al. (2023) conducted a review in Collegiate athletics health and performance. Comprehensive integration through a sport science department vs. High-performance model (historical context) was evaluated. Comprehensive integration of health and performance support through a sport science department is proposed as the next generation of best practice for collegiate athletics.
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