Training Day Sans-Denzel / Happy Canada Day! / Happy Fourth of July

We apologize for the the delay between posts, but we at OS have some rest and relaxation time built into our calendars. With the new addition of ‘team-Canada,’ we now have two holidays to celebrate at the start of July. But this week, we get to celebrate a successful and productive first training day with members of the Northeastern University athletic community.

Art Horne, Interim Director of Athletics, and Dan Boothby, strength and conditioning coach for the hockey team, participated in the first stage of delivery, including the set-up of their new 2 meter OptoJump system,  and a class on basic functions and use. This was the first of three training classes scheduled for the Northeastern University staff, and will conclude the third week in August where the first group of athletes will join an begin their data collection testing. During the coming weeks, a plan for action will be drawn up in order to facilitate the integration of the technology into the diverse sports program. The athletic department will adopt a new scheduled testing and review ‘curriculum’ for their athletes, where performance is evaluated on the core functions of the body.

Plans to track each individual athlete through his career at Northeastern and implement an objective return to play model as well as a  performance and therapy trending-cycle.

BSMPG EVENT

We are still unwinding ourselves after sponsoring the Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group 2011 Conference. Held at Northeastern University and in its third year, the conference has evolved into a must-attend event for those involved with sports medicine and performance training.

Attendees were fortunate to hear a host of experts discuss the best practices and new techniques in a sport-specific classroom, focusing on either Basketball or Hockey. Additionally, the conference offered speakers focused on general sports medicine and a first look new and innovative products, such as OptoSource and our 4Pillars athlete management portal, Tekscan pressure mapping technology, and Core Cooler‘s frozen isotonic sports drink.

Art Horne, Director of Sports Medicine at Northeastern University, hosted more than 150 strength and conditioning coaches and trainers from colleges and universities around the country including the up-and coming Quinnipiac University and notable Cornell University to learn from 20 keynote speakers. The diverse set of speakers and topics included  Charlie Weingroff, the Lead Physical Therapist for United States Marine Corps Special Operations Command, and Former Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Philadelphia 76ers, and his topic, Trying to Define the Core as well as sports psychologist George Mumford, who under Phil Jackson’s support staff with the Chicago Bulls (1993-1998) and the Los Angeles Lakers (2000-2002) earned 6 NBA Championship titles, speak on his topic Playing the Inner Game of Basketball.

The BSMPG event was a great success for all attendees, speakers, and sponsors alike. Northeastern University has become a flagship school for OptoSource by having a 2-meter OptoJump system delivered to their staff on June 30th, and plans to have the system fully integrated into their sports medicine program as well as the health and wellness department by August 4th. OptoSource technology will be available for the entire student body to track and trend individual gait analysis‘ and performance statistics in the coming months.