A recent turnover in the coaching staff at Nicholls State University welcomes new head strength and conditioning coach Greg Carrasquillo and assistant coach Tyler Shimizu to Thibodaux.
The Westchester, New York natives attended Springfield College together and now bring their expertise to the weight room at Nicholls State University.
Strength and conditioning training is crucial for the student athletes at Nicholls to ensure that their bodies are performing at the highest level, while staying injury free.
Carrasquillo and Shimizu create separate training programs for each sports team on campus that aims to benefit student athletes in their specific competitions. Sports such as baseball require more explosive exercises and repetitive, high intensity movements compared to long-distance running, which focuses on improving endurance through higher repetitions and higher volume exercises.
When formulating training plans, the coaches consider functional training, ground base-movements, multi-joint movements and three-dimensional movements to guarantee that an exercise is pertinent to one’s sport, applies force to a solid surface and has the body working in unison.
Shimizu trains members of the Nicholls volleyball, softball, soccer and cross-country teams.  He stresses the importance of the programs for his athletes saying, “Strength is the foundation for all other performance attributes in athletics. Without a solid base in strength, it is hard to make gains in any other field. Once you lay that foundation, you can progress from there.”
Mark Frazier is a member of the Nicholls baseball team, who praises the training techniques of the new weight room staff. “They are both so knowledgeable. They help us all gain endurance, speed and power. If we had a weak strength base, there is no way we could do our best on the field,” he said.
In addition to gaining strength, well-balanced programs prevent athletes from acquiring soft-tissue injuries such as pulls and tears and injuries to major joints such as the knees and hips. “Without a balanced program, we see a lot of ACL injuries, pulled hamstrings and slap tears in shoulders,” said Carrasquillo.
By following the strength and conditioning plans set forth by Shimizu and Carrasquillo, student-athletes at Nicholls will see improvements in overall performance in their respective sports and reduce the risk of injury to their bodies.