Exercise Science Students Assess Student-Athletes in Sports Combine

The exercise science classroom in Coffin Hall was a flurry of activity as Mariner basketball players moved from station to station to be measured and assessed by exercise science students. The College’s Athletic Department partnered with exercise science students in Dr. Kathryn Ostrander’s Theory and Technique of Strength and Conditioning course to assess players’ strength and agility in a sports combine.

“One of the coaches wanted more information so that they can gage their athletes and create a program. Also, to see where their athletes are lacking and where they are improving,” Ostrander said. “For our exercise science students, it’s a way to get them to practice what they’ve learned because they previously had a class on assessment.”

The sports combine gave students an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned while offering a service to their peers and the coaches. Ostrander emphasized that it’s important for students to not only be book smart, but people smart as well—meaning knowing how to motivate and encourage people to improve their performance.

The Women’s and Men’s Basketball teams each had their own combine led by the students. Combine activities included a one rep max for squat and bench press, chess press, body fat percentage measurements, maximal vertical leap, measurement of wingspan, agility and speed tests, and anthropometric measurements. Anthropometric measurements provide a baseline of information about the body, such as height and weight.

“That baseline information allows for categorizing performance by the person. That way, if it is a male or female, and you know how tall they are, we should expect a certain level of performance,” Ostrander said.

In the Coffin gymnasium, athletes performed agility tests to assess their ability to change direction and how fast they can move running forward and side-to-side. The drills were very sports specific. For example, in track and field, athletes are mainly moving forward, whereas in basketball, players move forward and do lateral or diagonal movements.

“By assessing all of those different angles, we can create a better performance plan for their workouts,” Ostrander said. Ostrander is also a volunteer strength and conditioning coach for the Men’s Basketball team.

Coastal Georgia senior Alyssa Haggerty, who is majoring in exercise science, definitely understood the benefit of the sports combine. Haggerty is a student-athlete herself, playing softball for the Mariners. She felt it was good for students to learn how to work together in that type of environment. One of the issues students discussed, after completing the sports combine, was how to improve wait time in between activities. Another, was how to improve the order of drills so that athletes’ bodies don’t become too fatigued to perform.

“We’re also practicing how to make sure we apply proper protocol, and we’re using language that athletes will understand, as opposed to really technical words that we learn in our textbook,” Haggerty said.

Haggerty plans to have a career working with athletes as a sports physical therapist.

Men’s Basketball player Jeremiah Camara is a sophomore majoring in accounting. It was his first time participating in a sports combine and he said it was fun to see his measurements.

“It’s been a great experience to test all of us individually,” Camara said. “It challenges us to be better because it will all translate onto the court.”

While playing for the Mariners, Camara is studying to become a personal financial advisor.

Women’s Basketball player Jasmin Worsley is a senior at the College and is also majoring in exercise science. She also thought the combine was very beneficial.

“I thought it was well put together, and the drills they had us doing were very effective and fun,” Worsley said. “It told me a lot of information that I didn’t know about myself, as well as for my teammates.”

Worsley shared that the most difficult drill for her was the slide lateral springs and back peddling fast. However, she believes the results will be useful for their game performance. Worsley plans to be a coach at either the collegiate or school level.

Next, students will analyze the results to extrapolate data, such as who had the best performances, and individual and team averages. They will then present their findings to the coaches and share strength and conditioning recommendations for improvement.

Interim Women’s Basketball Head Coach Corey Hawkins is looking forward to having the results to see where the team can grow within the next couple of months.

“The sports combine that exercise science did was fantastic. Dr. (Christine) Brown and Professor O are amazing. You always see the NBA and WNBA players do a physical combine to test their strength and agility,” Hawkins said. “I’m so thankful that we have a department that can partner with Athletics to help better everyone involved—the students and the athletes.”