The two primary goals of the Olympic Sport Strength and Conditioning staff at UNC-Chapel Hill are to enhance athletic ability while simultaneously preventing injury. Employing training techniques that have been substantiated by research has helped enhance the staff's ability to work towards their directive. The training begins by improving the efficiency of the neuromuscular system. This will in turn aid in improving athletic performance and help dissipate movement patterns that predispose athletes to sustaining serious orthopedic injury. Establishing the proper movement patterns and muscle activation sequences will help the athlete improve in all areas of athletic performance. Teaching the athlete how to activate the proper muscles for athletic movement is very important to the overall effectiveness of the training program.

Athletic performance is dictated by a large number of variables and the strength and conditioning staff attempts to target each of those variables. There are athletic attributes that are inherent to each individual sport and most sports have many common variables that if developed can help improve performance. These variables include but are not limited to: Upper and Lower Extremity Variables - symmetrical power, strength, mobility, flexibility, and proprioception.

Enhancing upper and lower extremity power is imperative to the athletic enhancement process. Without the ability to produce a large amount of force in a short period of time most athletes would be ineffective on the playing field. The most effective means of developing power in the upper and lower extremity is through the Olympic style weightlifting movements and through plyometric exercises. These exercise groups are not the only means by which the strength and conditioning staff aims to increase an athlete's total body power but as previously stated they have been the most effective. Being able to apply a large amount of force to the ground in a short period of time is going to aid athlete's ability to quickly accelerate to maximum velocity as well as improve the ability to jump off the ground.

Strength development is a critical component of athletic performance and it is imperative that each athlete have symmetrical strength from the left to the right side of the body and from the front to the back of the body. Making sure each athlete is in muscular balance throughout the body will hopefully aid in the prevention of injury. The two main strength exercises employed at UNC are the bench, for the upper extremity, and squat for the lower extremity. Each of those exercises has multiple variations that are employed in the design of each team's strength training program. The respective opposing muscle groups to those working in the squat and bench are stressed with the same intensity so as not to create a muscular imbalance. It should be made clear that in order to utilize the exercises that develop power the athlete must have an adequate amount of strength. The determination of what is adequate and what is not adequate will be made by the strength coach.

Mobility and flexibility are closely related, and influence the athlete's ability to function in a competitive setting. Some sports require increased mobility in certain joints in order to train at an optimal level and also compete at an optimal level. The optimal level of mobility and flexibility for each joint varies with each different sport trained at UNC. For example optimal mobility in the shoulder joint may be quite different from one sport to another depending on the inherent characteristics required by each individual sport and each individual position in that sport. The key to training this variable is to strive for the proper amount of flexibility and mobility to improve performance while at the same time preventing injury.

In order to make sure that the proper training program has been implemented for each team a testing and evaluation system has been put into place. The system tests all of the major performance variables we have identified as measurable and inherently important to sport. Without a system such as the one, which we have developed over the past two years, it would be hard to determine the overall effectiveness of a training program. Not only does it provide the strength and conditioning coaches an evaluation tool to assess each athlete it also promotes a competitive atmosphere. This competition exists within each team and within the Olympic sports program and presents itself while athletes train in the weight room and on the field.