Yo Yo and Strength and Conditioning

[Speedy17]

I hate to ask this question by why is Szendrei the strength and conditioning coach for both men's and women's hoops. I seem to remember changes being made about decade ago after injuries beset Sherri's team - my question is why have they gone to a single S&C coach for men and women. That job seems too big for a single individual to handle and there is a definite difference in S&C for men and women. They need a specialist for the women's basketball program.

Money should be no object with these two programs.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I hate to ask this question by why is Szendrei the strength and conditioning coach for both men's and women's hoops. I seem to remember changes being made about decade ago after injuries beset Sherri's team - my question is why have they gone to a single S&C coach for men and women. That job seems too big for a single individual to handle and there is a definite difference in S&C for men and women. They need a specialist for the women's basketball program.

Money should be no object with these two programs.

If money is the only factor (and that very well may be the case) then I certainly agree with you.

 

[35TangoTango]

The previous S&C Coach, Tim Overman also did baseball, which is his primary sport. He is now doing that exclusively. So we haven't actually lost ground, we've just traded a baseball/basketball S&C guy for a basketball/basketball one.

 

[SoonerSpock]

The previous S&C Coach, Tim Overman also did baseball, which is his primary sport. He is now doing that exclusively. So we haven't actually lost ground, we've just traded a baseball/basketball S&C guy for a basketball/basketball one.

It is probably a mere case of numbers as it applies to Overman. The present baseball roster has 32 players. The men and women's basketball combined roster have 28 players.

Reassigning the women to Yo-Yo levels the workload and probably gives the women's S&C coach more time to dedicate to the women vs keeping the women assigned to Tim Overman and having him responsible for S&C for 44 players.

 

[Speedy17]

I think my point is that women's sports need specialists. The training should be focused on preventing injuries and not simply having an S&C coach to have one which seems to be the case. It should not be lets just assign S&C coaches because of dollars. How many discussions have we had on this board about injuries and Sherri's teams? OU has revenue over 108 Million so there is not any excuse.

 

[garyeb2]

Yo Yo also has mens tennis. Womens basketball loses around $2,000,000 per year. Budget concerns are probably the reason for having a part time S&C coach.

 

[35TangoTango]

It's easy to point fingers when Overman had a great record for avoiding tendon and ligament injuries, and YoYo has had 5 in 2 years. But I had to stop and think this out logically. If Overman had any secrets or strategies for preventing these injuries, they would have been passed on to Sendrai. If any S&C coach in the country had a proven method of preventing ACL's they would be shouting from the rooftops.

About the only things a S&C coach can do in this area are stretching exercises, and I'm sure those aren't being left out.

 

[MsProudSooner]

New theories seem to pop up every other day. The latest one I read said that taping of the ankles causes more knee injuries because making the ankles more inflexible transfers the torque to the knee.

Someone tries a new S&C drill and their team doesn't have an ACL injury for a couple of years and they think they are a genius. But they fade into obscurity when the injuries crop up again. Some of the best schools in the country have had them in abundance and I'm confident that they try to stay as up to date as possible in that area.

The researchers may someday identify all the reasons women suffer from ACL injuries more than men but I don't know if they'll ever be able to prevent them as much as we would like.

Recovery from knee injuries is another story, however. I remember many girls whose high school careers were negatively impacted by the fact that their knees would swell and they would have them drained before every game. Today, we know that was probably a torn cartilage and it's a fairly easy fix. Surgery for knee injuries used to mean the end of your athletic career but that's not so any more.